Yang Yunfei 1017800664@qq.com TECH heavyweight Huawei Technologies made impressive smartphone sales during the recently-concluded 618 shopping festival, driven by heavy demand for its newly launched 5G devices. Huawei’s sales surged 42.4% year on year in the May 20-June 16 period, known as the 618 retail bonanza, making the Shenzhen-based giant a big winner in China’s smartphone market during this year’s mid-year online shopping extravaganza initially started by China’s major e-commerce firm JD.com, according to the latest data from Counterpoint Research. Huawei’s sales was primarily driven by a “continued demand for its new 5G products” such as the Mate 60 series and Pura 70 series, said the research firm, which covers the technology, media and telecom industry, in its China Smartphone Weekly Sales Tracker. Compared with its major rivals such as Apple, Honor and Xiaomi, Huawei offered “the smallest price discounts” on its products during the shopping carnival but recorded the biggest jump in sales, as its products were “still in high demand,” Counterpoint said. Vivo emerged as the second-best performer with an increase of 12.6% in sales from a year ago, according to Counterpoint. The firm launched the high-end X100s series, the affordable Y200 series, and the mid-range iQOO Neo 9s Pro before the event and the mid-range S19 series during the event, which helped boost its sales. Xiaomi Corp. saw its sales increase 12.6% year on year, thanks to discounts of up to 1,000 yuan (US$137.60), driving the sales of its mid-to-high-end phones, Counterpoint said. Honor Device Co., spun off as an independent business from Huawei in 2020 after U.S. sanctions hit the Chinese tech giant’s smartphone business, posted a sales increase of 4.3% from last year as the Shenzhen-based smartphone maker, in addition to generous price cuts, launched the mid-end HONOR 200 series during the period. Apple Inc.’s sales grew 2.7% from last year. The U.S. firm offered the biggest-ever discounts, reaching up to 2,350 yuan, to entice consumers amid intensifying competition from a resurgent Huawei in the premium segment, according to Counterpoint. Total smartphone sales in China rose 6.8% during the period compared with a year before, according to Counterpoint. Most smartphone manufacturers were offering discounts similar to last year’s, indicating a demand warm-up, Counterpoint said, adding that it estimates low single-digit year-on-year growth for China’s smartphone market this year. The 618 shopping festival is China’s second-largest annual sales event, only after the Singles’ Day event in November, and has evolved into a crucial battleground for e-commerce dominance in the country. China’s major e-commerce platforms, including Alibaba Group Holding’s Taobao and Tmall, JD.com, Pinduoduo, ByteDance’s Douyin and rival short-video platform Kuaishou, saw gross merchandise value (GMV) grow 13.6% year on year during this year’s event, according to third-party data from research firm Analysys. Despite the GMV growth, many merchants have complained that profits are declining owing to a brutal price war in the highly competitive market as platforms compete to attract price-conscious consumers. During this year’s event, for the first time, both Alibaba and JD.com abolished the traditional presale stage, which had allowed consumers to pay a deposit on goods to guarantee a low price during the actual sales period. | 