Strong iPhone 16 sales in China have returned Apple to the No 2 spot in the local smartphone market in the third quarter, after it had fallen out of the top five in the previous three months, according to the latest data from research firm IDC.

iPhone shipments captured 15.6 per cent of the market in the three months ended September, behind only Vivo at 18.6 per cent, according to IDC on Friday. While Apple's latest handsets helped it perform better than earlier in the year, its market share was down from 16.1 per cent in the same period last year.

Apple's smartphone sales fell 0.3 per cent year on year, but initial uptake of the iPhone 16 series, which hit the shelves in September, has largely been on par with the previous generation, according to the report.

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Huawei Technologies' shipments surged 42 per cent in the quarter to take 15.3 per cent of the market, just behind Apple. It marked four consecutive quarters of at least double-digit growth, according to IDC. The US-sanctioned company staged a comeback in the premium handset market last year with an advanced processor produced entirely in China that ignited patriotic fervour at home.

People line up outside an Apple store on a rainy day as the new iPhone 16 series smartphones go on sale in Beijing on September 20. Photo: Reuters alt=People line up outside an Apple store on a rainy day as the new iPhone 16 series smartphones go on sale in Beijing on September 20. Photo: Reuters>

In the June quarter, Apple was pushed to No 6 in China by shipments amid fierce competition with local players, putting it behind Vivo, Huawei, Oppo, Honor and Xiaomi, according to IDC data. It was the first time in years the iPhone maker fell so low in one of its most important markets.

China, the world's largest smartphone market, has seen handset shipments grow 3.2 per cent to 68.8 million units in the third quarter, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of growth, according to IDC.

"A significant wave of device upgrades is propelling the sustained recovery of the Chinese smartphone market," Arthur Guo, senior research analyst for IDC China, wrote in the report.

Chinese smartphone vendors Vivo, Huawei and Xiaomi all achieved double-digit year-on-year growth in the third quarter. Vivo remained the leader on the back of strong 21.5 per cent shipment growth, according to IDC.