JamieChinese phone brands have made a pretty impressive name for themselves in the industry. While they are certainly popular in Mainland China, that’s not the only place they are making their mark. Several markets outside of China routinely choose Chinese phones.
If you’re wondering which markets these Chinese devices have become most popular in, the list below will quench your curiosity.
Which Phone Brands Are the Most Popular?
Before we look at the markets where Chinese phones are popular, let’s also mention the brands that are most commonly used. According to data, the most common Chinese phone shipments are Huawei, Honor, vivo, Xiaomi, and OPPO. Of those, vivo and Huawei top the list, with both brands rising in market share over the past two years.
What many may not realize is that China is the world’s largest smartphone market, so it makes perfect sense that China supplies other markets worldwide. Mainland China shipped 285 million smartphone units in 2024. Part of what makes the Chinese brands so popular is the tech they offer, combined with consumer-friendly pricing.
Hong Kong
Outside of Mainland China, Hong Kong is the biggest export market for smartphones. This shouldn’t be a big surprise, considering Hong Kong is a part of the People’s Republic of China. It makes for simple shipping routes and affordable pricing. In terms of the most popular devices, vivo and Huawei sit at the top.
Vietnam
Vietnam accounted for 15.4% of Chinese smartphones exports as of 2022, making it second to Hong Kong. In terms of value, it is worth more than $6.5 billion. This makes Vietnam an incredibly important market for Chinese smartphones.
What makes this market particularly interesting is that it is also a major producer of smartphones itself, yet it still imported a significant amount or smartphones from China.
Philippines
While the export market of Chinese smartphones is not massive in the Philippines, it’s still substantial. Looking into the data for smartphones in the Philippines, it ranks in the top 20 countries for cellphone penetration. Experts are predicting that the market will grow by another 7% from 2024 to 2029, helping it to stay near the top of the list.
Breaking down the data further, Filipinos were among the most social media-heavy users in the world and, according to casinos.com, also one of the biggest online gambling markets in Asia. No doubt, their smartphones come in handy for that!
India
The export value of Chinese smartphones to India in 2022 was valued at just over $3.6 billion—meaning a sizeable volume of exports and users.
Data also shows that as of 2022, India is only second to China in terms of how many smartphones there are in the country. By the year 2023, India had more than one billion smartphone users. It’s estimated that by the year 2040, that number will jump to 1.55 billion.
Singapore
Singapore has a much smaller population, but it’s estimated that by 2026 a whopping 99.4% of the population will have smartphones. In Singapore, people use their smartphones for all kinds of features, making them a necessary part of life and even work.
Malaysia
Malaysia is another country that imports Chinese phones, providing residents with more variety at competitive prices. Among its population of more than 34 million people (as of 2023), 89% use handy devices, which makes Malaysia higher than average in terms of smartphone penetration rate in the Asia-Pacific region.
Malaysians spend about 7.5 hours per day on the internet and use their smartphones primarily to take pictures, send mobile messages, and engage in social networking.
Japan
About 1.69% of smartphone exports went to Japan in 2022, totaling $722 million. It’s not as big as some of the other markets, but still a sizeable volume. An interesting statistic from Japan is that even though about 79% of Japanese people currently own a smart device, experts predict it will hit 92% by the end of this year (2025).
Just like other markets, communication and social networking are the top uses of smartphones in Japan.
South Korea
Coming in at just 1.58% of export destinations of smartphones in 2022 is South Korea. This is a small percentage, but it still equates to more than $677 million. South Koreans really love using their smartphones, but some are pointing out that the rate may be too high.
It is estimated that 96% of people have a smartphone and the remaining 4% have regular mobile phones. Data from 2022 showed that 99% of South Korean teens also have smartphones.
Smartphones Are Important Chinese Exports
If you break down the top Mainland China exports, you get a list that includes things such as computers, broadcasting technologies, transport equipment, semiconductors, and integrated circuits. But also high on the list of exports is smartphones.
China has managed to make a huge name for itself in the Asia-Pacific region, exporting to all the neighboring countries and then some. This is just a small look at the many countries that embrace Chinese phones, but it gives you a good idea of how successful China has been in this industry and market.
