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Huawei takes a bite out of Apple, soaring to become the top brand in China

Technews

Huawei takes a bite out of Apple, soaring to become the top brand in China

By Jonathan Castillo

Photo by Rubaitul Azad on Unsplash

Photo by Rubaitul Azad on Unsplash

A report showed that Huawei became the top smartphone brand in China in 2025, surpassing Apple.

This report comes from the research firm, International Data Corporation (IDC).

According to IDC, Huawei sold 46.7 million phones in China in 2025, accounting for 16.4% of the market. In that same year, Apple sold 46.2 million iPhones, 16.2% of the market.

This marks a comeback for Huawei, whose sales dipped by 1.4% in 2024, while Apple gained 4%.

In 2019 and 2020, Huawei faced significant challenges when the US tightened restrictions on it, limiting its access to advanced chips, among other measures. In response to this, Huawei developed its own Kirin processors in China.

In the last quarter of 2025, Apple saw big sales with the release of its iPhone 17 series.

The IDC predicts 2026 will be more challenging due to the soaring costs of memory chips, storage, and RAM.

Memory chip prices are expected to rise as manufacturers prioritize bulk purchases from AI companies such as OpenAI.

According to Will Wong, a senior research manager at IDC, premium brands like Huawei and Apple have an advantage because their margins are high enough to “absorb” the cost. It remains to be seen if Huawei and Apple will shoulder the cost as Wong believes.

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