Samsung Doesn’t Rank Among Top 6 Smartphone Brands in China

Samsung is one of the world’s largest smartphone makers, often ranking first or second worldwide. However, when it comes to China, the story is very different. It does not rank among the top 6 smartphone brands in the Chinese market in either the fourth quarter of 2025 or the full year.

Samsung continues to struggle in the Chinese smartphone market

According to data from Counterpoint Research, Samsung’s smartphone market share in China remained in the “Others” category in Q4 2025. This category includes brands with little market presence, accounting 5% of total shipments. In 2013, the Korean firm secured about 20% of the Chinese market. Just five years later (2018), its share dropped to around 1%. Since then, it has failed to bounce back in that market.

The decline is mainly due to stiff competition from domestic smartphone brands. Chinese firms such as Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, and Honor are offering devices that better match local consumer preferences. These brands also likely benefit from solid offline retail networks.

In Q4 2025, Apple led China’s smartphone market with a 21.8% share. This is mainly because of the firm’s strong demand for the iPhone 17 series. Unsurprisingly, Chinese brands took the remaining rankings. OPPO took second position with 15.8% while Vivo came in third with 15.7%. Likewise, Huawei (14.6%), Xiaomi (13.7%), and Honor (13.4%) secured fourth, fifth, and sixth places, respectively.

Speaking of the full-year 2025 performance, Huawei became the top smartphone brand in China. The company saw strong sales of its mid-to-high-end models thanks to aggressive pricing strategies. Meanwhile, Samsung remained outside the top 6 spot, like in the Q4 chart.

The good news is that Samsung saw strong growth in the global smartphone market with 18.2% share. In Q4 2025, the company shipped 61.2 million smartphones worldwide, an 18.3% increase compared with the same period in 2024. However, it still fell short of Apple, which remained the global market leader during the quarter. The Korean firm is now readying to introduce the Galaxy S26 series around the world, likely in late February. The new flagship lineup should solidify its position in the global market in the coming months.