Huawei grows as China’s smartphone shipments fall 15.4% in third quarter

China’s smartphone shipments fell 15.4% year on year to 57.9 million units in the third quarter of 2026, according to preliminary IDC data released on October 13. Huawei was the only major vendor to record double-digit annual growth, shipping 12.2 million phones and leading the market with a share of about 21%. Apple ranked second with a 17.8% share, although its shipments declined 4.3%.