2026 appears set to be written into the pages of technological history as the year of the absolute dominance of Chinese smartphones.
Manufacturers from China, which ten years ago seemed like “simple cheap alternatives”, have now consolidated their leading position in global markets, overturning not only Apple and Samsung, but also the very rules of the game in technology and the economy.
A characteristic symbol of this shift is Huawei’s return to the top of the Chinese smartphone market, an event that a few years ago was considered impossible due to the harsh US sanctions.
However, Huawei’s success is only the tip of the iceberg: behind it lies the complete transformation of the Chinese mobile phone industry into a self sufficient ecosystem, capable of competing with Western and South Korean giants across all critical parameters, from chips and operating systems to design and pricing.
For more than a decade, the smartphone market was dominated by two names:
Apple in the premium segment and Samsung in the mass market and Android flagships.
Chinese brands Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Huawei were growing spectacularly, but their technological superiority was often limited, while price was their main advantage.
Now, everything has changed dramatically.
Chinese companies are no longer simple “cheap alternatives”, but complete leaders in technology.
The result is the steady decline of the global market share of Apple and Samsung and the rapid expansion of Chinese smartphones outside China, in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Russia and Western Europe.
At the same time, Chinese manufacturers have detached themselves from Western technology, developing their own components and stopping the copying of Western solutions, the technological sovereignty that Russia is trying to achieve, China has already achieved.
Huawei, symbol of Chinese technological superiority
After 2020, Huawei faced unprecedented pressure from US sanctions, losing access to advanced processors and Google services.
Many predicted its decline or even its exit from the smartphone market.
However, by 2025, the company had not only recovered, but had also regained its leading position in the Chinese market.
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), Huawei’s share of the Chinese smartphone market in 2025 reached 16,4%, while Apple stood at just 16,2%.
In absolute numbers, Huawei sold 46,7 million devices, surpassing Apple’s 46,2 million iPhones.
It was the first time since 2020 that Huawei maintained annual market leadership in mainland China, and not through price dumping, but thanks to technological innovations.
The key factor was the transition to processors of Chinese manufacture. The Kirin series, developed by HiSilicon and manufactured domestically, may lag slightly behind the most advanced Western chips, but has proven competitive in performance and energy efficiency in real world conditions.
iPhones now symbolize, for many Chinese, inferiority toward the West.
Owning an iPhone is considered a sign of subservience to the Western world, while a Huawei smartphone is a mark of prestige and support for national technological independence.
Apple in the vortex of the Chinese market
Apple faces increasing difficulties adapting to the particularities of the Chinese market, where users demand rapid integration of new features, artificial intelligence and flexible pricing. Meanwhile, Chinese manufacturers leveraged their success in the domestic market to strengthen their presence abroad.
Huawei gradually returned to Europe and friendly markets.
Xiaomi strengthened its position in India, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe.
Oppo and Vivo are expanding in Africa and Latin America.
Some Chinese brands deliberately reduced their presence in the domestic market to avoid direct confrontation with Huawei, focusing their forces on exports. The result is that China has increased its overall global market share, striking decisively at the creation of Steve Jobs.
Apple’s defeat in China is not only economic – it is symbolic: Xi Jinping won the battle of technological sovereignty, turning Steve Jobs into a victim of a strategic reversal.
www.bankingnews.gr
Readers’ Comments