The top smartphone brand in China is completely unexpected

Huawei was forced to sell Honor back in November 2020 due to US sanctions, making it an independent brand in the process. Now, over a year after Honor gained independence, the company has reportedly ascended to the top of the smartphone market in China.

A Q1 2022 market share report from Canalys showed that Honor was the number one brand in the country, shipping 15 million units and accounting for 20% of the market. This makes for year-on-year growth of 205%, with Honor only accounting for 5% of the market in Q1 2021. In fact, Honor wasn’t even in the top five back then, landing at a distant sixth place.

It’s a pretty surprising turn of events given that Honor is essentially an all-new brand on paper. However, the firm still shares some DNA with Huawei when looking at a few devices (e.g. the Honor 50 series). So it’s not quite starting from scratch in some ways.

Otherwise, Oppo (18%) and Apple (18%) rounded out the podium in China. Oppo actually declined 34% compared to a year ago while Apple achieved 17% yearly growth. So Apple could theoretically threaten Honor’s top spot if the Cupertino company can maintain momentum and if Honor shipments slow dramatically.

Vivo (16%) and Xiaomi (14%) rounded out the top five. These brands saw yearly declines of 44% and 22% respectively. In other words, Honor and Apple were the only brands in the top five to see yearly growth.