Recently, an organization released the global mobile phone sales in the third quarter of 2024.

Data shows that global smartphone shipments in the third quarter reached 316.1 million units, up 4.0% year-on-year, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of growth, indicating that the mobile phone market is back on the growth track.

In terms of specific rankings, there has been no change from the previous quarter, with the top five being Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, OPPO, and VIVO.

Certainly, in terms of market share, Samsung fell by 1%, Apple remained unchanged, Xiaomi increased by 1%, and VIVO increased by 1%, indicating that domestic mobile phone manufacturers' shares have slightly increased.

So how does the domestic Chinese market compare to the global market? Recently, Canalys also released domestic mobile phone sales data for the third quarter.

As shown in the figure below, total sales in the Chinese market were 69.1 million units, up 4% year-on-year, accounting for 21.86% of global sales. Notably, this figure is less than a quarter of the global total.

In terms of rankings, VIVO, Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, and Apple took the top five spots.

Among them, VIVO once again emerged as the top player, while OPPO has been squeezed out of the top five, effectively falling behind.

However, only VIVO, the top player, has a slightly larger market share of 19%, while the other four manufacturers have similar shares of 16%, 15%, 15%, and 14%, respectively, differing by just 1%. In terms of sales volume, the difference among them is within 1 million units.

This indicates that the domestic competition is fierce, with little gap between players, resulting in a stalemate. Rankings can easily change due to the small differences.

The crucial fourth quarter is approaching, with the launch of Apple's iPhone 16 series, Huawei's Mate 70, Xiaomi's 15 series, Honor's Magic 7, and flagship phones from OPPO and VIVO all set to debut.

Last year, Apple became the top player in the Chinese market thanks to the popularity of the iPhone 15. This year, it is rumored that sales of the iPhone 16 series have increased by 20% compared to last year. Will Apple reclaim the top spot in the fourth quarter? Will Xiaomi, Huawei, OV, Honor, and others allow Apple to take the lead? This remains the biggest suspense.