According to a report from Jefferies analysts, Huawei has overtaken Apple's iPhone as the smartphone market share leader in China.

For those who have forgotten, Huawei was effectively kicked out of the smartphone market by the US government, which refused to allow it to have any up-to-date tech. Meanwhile, Apple was supposed to have all the bells and whistles everyone wanted.

It was not as if sales of smartphones had fallen behind the bamboo curtain, as they have in the US either.

Jefferies said smartphone sales in China have grown year over year, driven primarily by high double-digit growth in Android sales led by Huawei, Xiaomi, and Honor devices.

Meanwhile, Apple's iPhone has seen a significant, double-digit decline, and its volume growth year over year has been negative since the iPhone 15 launched.

"We believe weak demand in China would eventually lead to lower-than-expected global shipments of iPhone 15 in 2023," the analysts wrote, adding that the trend suggests the iPhone will "lose" to Huawei next year.

The Jefferies analysts wrote that Android's volume growth can't be chalked up to discounts and that discounts on iPhones, excluding the iPhone 15 models, have been stable, while the average discount for Android "is not high."

The analysts noted that resale iPhone 15 devices are all "trading at discounts to official selling prices," reflecting China's weak demand.