After 6 years, Apple took first place in China

In the last quarter of 2021, Apple ranked first in China, the world's largest smartphone market, with a record 23 percent market share. According to the research published by Counterpoint Research on Wednesday, after Huawei's crash in the rankings, Apple, with the help of its newly released model iPhone 13, surpassed its Chinese rivals Vivo and Oppo to take the first place.

It increased its market share in a shrinking market by 32%

Despite a 9% decline in the country's phone market due to limited production and consumption demand due to the chip crisis and economic slowdown, Apple increased its sales in the country by 32%. Analyst Mengmeng Zhang, who evaluated the figures, commented that "Apple's dazzling performance is partly due to the price strategy it follows and partly to the market share it has gained from Huawei." After the restrictions, Huawei created a mobile business called Honor as a spin-off in 2020 and ranked fifth, after Xiaomi Corp. According to the calculations of Counterpoint, Apple's market share reached 23 percent in the last three months of 2021, breaking a record. This ranking change is seen as an important milestone in terms of the effect it left on the market dynamics after the export restrictions imposed on Huawei, the world's largest mobile phone seller, by the USA.

The chip crisis will continue to be an issue in 2022

However, while smartphone sales are falling due to inflationary pressures on a global basis in 2022, the downward economic outlook, and gradually slowing change times, the still unresolved chip crisis continues to cause a decrease in production. It is stated that Apple also tells its parts suppliers that demand for the iPhone 13 is weakening, indicating that some consumers have given up on buying the product that is difficult to find.