Huawei tops Apple in China smartphone sales in 2025

Huawei overtook Apple to become the top smartphone seller in China in 2025, shipping 46.7 million devices for a 16.4% market share, according to International Data Corporation (IDC).

Apple followed closely with 46.2 million iPhones shipped, accounting for 16.2% of the market.

This marks Huawei’s first full-year lead in China since 2020, after US sanctions limited its access to advanced chips.

Huawei, based in Shenzhen, relied on its own China-designed processors, including the Kirin 9030 chip, to power its latest phones.

🔗 Source: South China Morning Post

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

SMIC N+3 gives Huawei short‑term edge with long‑term yield and supply limits

Huawei’s Kirin 9030 uses Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) N+3 process node (a manufacturing generation) 1. TechInsights (a semiconductor reverse‑engineering firm) says it is a scaled 7nm evolution that relies on back‑end‑of‑line (the wiring layers above the transistors) multi‑patterning without Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography 1. It is nearer to 7nm or 6nm than to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) or Samsung 5nm 1.
Performance gain reaches up to 42% versus Kirin 9020 2. Yields remain fragile on this node due to Deep Ultraviolet (DUV) multi‑patterning where misalignment or defects can trigger sudden collapses 1. Progress will hinge on design discipline and conservative clocks (lower operating frequencies to manage power or reliability) 1. Advanced packaging (techniques that connect or stack chips to boost performance) will matter, while EUV access stays blocked by US export restrictions 1 2.

Memory surge drives procurement urgency for smartphone original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) through mid‑2026

Contract pricing for Dynamic Random‑Access Memory (DRAM) is set to jump 55 to 60% quarter‑on‑quarter in Q1 2026 3. Mobile segments like Low‑Power Double Data Rate (LPDDR) standards LPDDR4X and LPDDR5X stay tight as suppliers favor servers plus High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for AI 3.
Handset DRAM bills climb 5 to 7% or more in 2026 versus 2025, after an 8 to 10% rise in 2025 with Q4 DRAM up over 75% year‑on‑year 4. Budget phones face output cuts with spec rollbacks, and some revert to 4GB in 2026 5. Smaller brands struggle to secure supply, which raises consolidation risk 5. OEMs should lock prices for H1 2026, since South Korean suppliers avoid long terms and prefer quarterly deals that step up through 2027 6.