Huawei strengthens its position in China’s premium smartphone market with price cuts

China remains the largest smartphone market in the world, and in the premium device segment (priced over $600), Apple leads with a 52% share. However, Huawei is firmly following it with 33% of the market, significantly increasing its premium smartphone sales by 34% in the third quarter of 2024.

Huawei’s market share in China remains the largest smartphone market in the world.

Price cuts on Huawei’s flagship devices

Huawei is actively lowering the prices of its devices to compete with Apple:

• Pura 70 Ultra (1TB): the price has been reduced by 18%, from 10,999 yuan ($1,494) to 8,999 yuan ($1,233).
• Pura 70 Ultra (512GB): the discount reaches 20%.
• Mate X5: the price has been reduced by 2,500 yuan ($343), a 19% discount. It now costs 10,499 yuan ($1,439).

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The Pura 70 series, launched in April as the successor to the P60, has already been reduced in price by 1,000 yuan ($137) over the summer. In addition, the popular foldable Mate X5, due out in September 2023, continues to lead the foldable devices on the market.

The Pura 70 series has already been reduced in price over the summer.

Huawei’s new model sales and their challenges

In November, Huawei introduced the Mate 70 series and the foldable Mate X6. However, the Mate 70 is selling worse than expected. The reason for the weak sales is attributed to the Kirin 9020 processor, created using second-generation 7nm technology. This chip is inferior to competitive solutions such as Apple’s 3nm A18 and A18 Pro, which are used in the iPhone 16.

Kirin 9020.

Despite this issue, however, Counterpoint Research analysts predict that the Mate 70 series could reach 10 million units sold over the entire sales period.

Huawei’s success in the foldable smartphone segment

Huawei continues to dominate the foldable smartphone market in China. With the Mate X5, the company shipped 1.12 million foldable devices in the third quarter, increasing its shipments by an impressive 97% year-over-year.

Huawei also surprised the market by introducing the world’s first triple foldable smartphone, the Mate XT, which features a 10-inch screen and is priced at around $3,000.

Totals

Huawei is steadily strengthening its position in the premium segment with strategic discounts and innovations in the foldable smartphone segment. Despite issues with its Kirin processors, the company is showing steady growth in key categories, which helps it remain a serious competitor to Apple and other brands in the Chinese market.

Huawei’s growth is strong in key categories.