China’s smartphone market grows 11% YoY in early Q4 2025

China’s smartphone market is off to a strong start in Q4 2025, with sell-out growth of 11% YoY in the first two weeks of October*, according to Counterpoint Research’s China Weekly Smartphone Sell-Out Tracker.

Apple has been the biggest driver, with strong sales of the iPhone 17 series continuing from its first 10 days of sales in September. “During the initial two weeks of availability, base model sales in China were almost double that of the base iPhone 16 over the same period,” said Senior Analyst Mengmeng Zhang. “Moving into October, it was the Pro variant that shone, with our numbers recording YoY growth almost two-thirds higher than last year’s iPhone 16 Pro.”

All three variants – Base, Pro and Pro Max – are performing extremely well, with overall sell-out up 40% in the first two weeks of October*. Value for money, upgrade cycles and a compressed holiday and shopping period (Mid-Autumn festival coincided with Golden Week this year) have contributed to Apple’s outperformance.

“The iPhone 17 series is a great product, but there are also a lot of moving parts working in Apple’s favor, including a Mid-Autumn festival pushed back into October, an 11.11 sales period pushed forward, and COVID upgrade cycles hitting,” observed Senior Analyst Ivan Lam.

Xiaomi’s sell-out also saw big gains during the two weeks, growing 21% YoY, supported by the early launch of the Xiaomi 17 series devices. “Xiaomi’s new phones with their bold rear display and big batteries are striking the right chord with Chinese consumers,” noted Lam. “But the early launch timing relative to competitors was also a factor and caught other Chinese OEMs off guard.” Counterpoint Research