Apple market share slips behind Huawei, Xiaomi

An Apple store is seen in Los Angeles, California, United States, April 22, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

BEIJING - Sales of iPhones continue to fall in urban China and now trail Chinese brands such as Huawei and Xiaomi, an industry survey showed Thursday.

In the second quarter, Apple accounted for 17.9 percent of smartphone sales in urban China, 1.8 percentage points less than a year ago, according to a survey conducted by Kantar Worldpanel.

"The decline has pushed Apple behind Huawei at 25.7 percent and Xiaomi at 18.5 percent," said Tamsin Timpson, strategic insight director at Kantar Asia, although iPhone 6s and 6s plus remain the top sellers.

With the iPhone SE in short supply, the model made little impact, accounting for only 2.5 percent of total sales.

In contrast to the decline in China, iPhones returned to growth in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain and the United States.

In the United States, Apple's sales grew 1.3 percentage points year-on-year, accounting for 31.8 percent of all sales.

Kantar Worldpanel ComTech carries out monthly panel surveys among Chinese urban mobile phone users to monitor the market share of various brands.