Mainland China's smartphone shipments declined 12% year-over-year (YoY) to 59.3 million units in 3Q 2026, marking the market’s lowest third-quarter shipment level since 2013, according to Omdia's latest research. The decline accelerated from the 2% drop recorded in 2Q26, as persistently high memory costs and increasingly cautious consumer replacement behavior contributed to diverging vendor performance.
Huawei shipped 12.4 million units, up 18% YoY, maintaining its leading position with a 21% share. Apple ranked second with 11.6 million units shipped, up 15% YoY, capturing a 20% share. Combined, the two vendors accounted for 41% of the market, an increase of approximately 10 percentage points from a year earlier. vivo ranked third, narrowly ahead of OPPO (including OnePlus and realme), with both vendors shipping approximately 9.0 million units and each holding a 15% market share. Xiaomi ranked fifth with 8.0 million units shipped.
In 3Q26, persistently high memory costs continued to weigh on the entire smartphone industry, while further increases in retail prices dampened consumer demand in some segments. Huawei strengthened its market leadership, supported by a comprehensive portfolio across price tiers, an established pricing strategy, the evolving HarmonyOS ecosystem, and strong sales of its new wide-form-factor devices. Apple held prices on existing models steady ahead of new product launches, encouraging earlier channel stocking and building momentum for the 4Q26 launch window. Higher costs and softer demand led to shipment. declines among other Android vendors. These vendors focused on optimizing channel inventory, enhancing the user experience and AI features, and refreshing mid-range product lines to maintain operational resilience. Despite the overall decline, premium devices and emerging form factors such as wide-format foldables remained resilient in the mature market.
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