(Yicai) April 24 -- Sales of smartphones in China rose for the second quarter in a row. Huawei Technologies saw the biggest jump in the first three months of the year, while Apple sold the least since 2020.

China’s phone sales rose 1.5 percent in the three months ended March 31 from a year earlier, according to data from market research institute Counterpoint. The market is expected to see a low-single-digit increase this year, with brands likely to continue exploring new artificial intelligence applications to further penetrate the mid-range market.

Huawei’s smartphone sales surged 70 percent thanks to its fifth-generation-enabled Mate 60 series. Honor ranked second with an 11.5 percent jump thanks to several popular models and the expansion of offline channels, while Xiaomi was third with an 8.6 percent increase. IPhone sales plunged 19.1 percent.

China’s smartphone market seems to be recovering, said Ethan Qi, associate director of research at Counterpoint. Sales promotions during the Chinese New Year were the main factor driving the sales growth momentum, he added.

According to Counterpoint, sales of smartphones in China jumped on average by 20 percent in the four weeks before the lunar new year compared with a typical week.

Vivo Communication Technology had the largest market share in China at 17.4 percent, followed by Honor at 16.1 percent, Apple at 15.7 percent, and Huawei at 15.5 percent.

Apple’s sales last quarter were slightly underwhelming because Huawei’s mighty comeback directly affected its position in the high-end market, noted Ivan Lam, senior analyst at Counterpoint. Nonetheless, the US tech giant’s weekly sales are slowly but steadily improving, so the situation may change, he said.

A new color set for the iPhone will likely launch this quarter, which, combined with an aggressive sales plan, could bring the brand back to positive growth, Lam pointed out.

Editor: Martin Kadiev