Honor overtakes Xiaomi, Apple as 3rd-largest smartphone producer

Honor has overtook Xiaomi and Apple to become China's third-largest smartphone producer for the first time after it separated from Huawei, latest report showed.

Figures released from the industry consultancy Cinno Research showed that last month Oppo and Vivo grabbed the first and second places, with shipments of 5.6 million and 5.3 million units respectively. Xiaomi shipped 3.9 million phones, ranking fourth, followed by Apple, with 3 million units.

Since separating from Huawei, Honor had once faced severe supply problems, and its market share in the country fell to 3 percent. However, as the supply chain returned to normal, Honor has accelerated its upward momentum in near term.

Priced from 4,599 yuan ($709), Honor unveiled its Magic 3 series in the middle of August. CEO Zhao Ming said the company plans to expand its presence in the high-end smartphone segment with its Magic 3 series.

Cinno Research's report showed that last month the smartphone market experienced stable growth, with overall shipments rising 28.6 percent year-on-year to 28.68 million units.

5G smartphones became a main driver for the growth. Its shipments reached 22.83 million units, accounting for 79.6 percent of the total.

In terms of smartphone chips, sales of MediaTek jumped 118.3 percent year-on-year to 10.2 million units in July, overtaking Qualcomm to rank first. Huawei HiSilicon saw its sales fall 70 percent to 2.1 million units.