News Summary

• Vivo took the top spot, thanks to its success in the budget segment of the market.That's despite both companies selling fewer phones, owing to a 7 percent drop in the overall Chinese market, which is suffering the effects of a nationwide deflation.
• Apple recorded a 15.7 percent market share, falling from 19 percent a year ago, according to Counterpoint's data.
• Apple sales in China dropped 13 percent to $20.8 billion in the quarter ended December, falling short of the $23.5 billion predicted by analysts, and forecasts for a quick improvement in 2024 do not look particularly optimistic.
• Meanwhile, Huawei saw its market share grow to 16.5 percent from 9.4 percent, thanks to the popularity of its home-grown Mate 60 series.
• Overall growth is likely to remain in the red during Q1 2024 on muted spending and a few new product launches, said the analysts.Apple's ‌iPhone‌ struggled during the first few weeks of the year for several reasons, according to Counterpoint.
• "Primarily, it faced stiff competition at the high end from a resurgent Huawei while getting squeezed in the middle on aggressive pricing from the likes of OPPO, vivo and Xiaomi," said Senior Analyst Mengmeng Zhang.