BEIJING, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Apple's ( AAPL ) iPhone

sales in China slipped 0.3% while rival Huawei posted a

42% surge in the third quarter of 2024, as competition

intensifies in the world's largest smartphone market.

Apple ( AAPL ) reached second place with a 15.6% market share, though

down 0.5 percentage points year-on-year, while Huawei claimed

third place with 15.3%, gaining 4.2 percentage points, showed

data from researcher IDC on Friday.

Vivo, which primarily sells budget phones, was the top

vendor with a market share of 18.6%.

The contrasting performances follow Huawei's comeback last year

in the premium segment with its Mate 60 series, featuring what

analysts said is a domestically produced chip.

The Chinese tech giant further challenged Apple's ( AAPL ) position with

its latest Pura 70 model released earlier this year.

Apple ( AAPL ) has faced additional headwind in China, including

restrictions on iPhone use by some government agencies.

The U.S. tech giant has since responded with multiple

discount campaigns to boost sales.

The third-quarter performance was partly helped by the new

iPhone 16, which went on sale on Sept. 20. On the same day,

Huawei launched a competing product- a tri-foldable phone.

The new iPhones got off to a strong start in China, with sales

20% higher in the first three weeks since launch compared with

the 2023 models, showed separate data from researcher

Counterpoint.

"With its annual new product launch, Apple ( AAPL ) returned to

China's top five market rankings with a 15.6% market share," IDC

said.

"With subsequent increases in market promotions and the

launch of Apple Vision Pro, the market demand for the iPhone 16

series is expected to gradually materialise in the future."

Overall, China smartphone sales for the third quarter rose

3.2% to 68.78 million units.