Huawei retakes crown in China handset market as Apple sinks to fifth

TAIPEI/TOKYO -- Huawei has returned to the top of China's smartphone market after staging an aggressive comeback in the face of an ongoing U.S. crackdown, with Apple falling to fifth by shipments in Asia's largest economy.

Figures for the first quarter of 2024 released on Friday by analytics company Canalys show that Huawei shipped 11.7 million smartphones in China. This is up 70% from a year earlier, when the company, hit by U.S. sanctions, was still trying to rejuvenate its handset business.