The 618 year-old Chinese shopping festival held in June has grown into a major e-commerce business in the region and even outside China. This year’s business was the first to be held after the closure of COVID 19 and hit last year’s businesses, especially smartphone sales. So, the phone makers were looking forward to solid sales, and probably didn’t disappoint.

Data released by market research firm Counterpoint shows that the smartphone market experienced a rebound in smartphone sales during this year’s 618 shopping festival.

The event saw a 7% year-on-year increase in smartphone sales in the first three weeks of June. The impressive wave comes as a result of a disappointing run during the previous two months of April and May.

BBK’s subsidiary Vivo grabbed the most sales to lead the site. The company rounded 23% of the total number of phones sold by the top eight phone manufacturers. BBK subsidiary OPPO came in second with 21% of 618 sales. Xiaomi also recorded impressive sales of 19% which places it at number 3.

Counterpoint notes that the current sales numbers have been made possible by the absence of Huawei and its once thriving Honor sub-brand. Both companies were first and second best sellers in 2020, but this year was different with sales plummeting 68% and 49% respectively.

Huawei’s smartphone business has been paralyzed by a US embargo as it is forced to sell the Honor brand. The brand has not yet taken possession of a new owner. The brand registered a 7% stake during 618, but its sales increased by more than 15% compared to the corresponding period in May.

Apple also recorded a pretty impressive release during the 618 shopping festival with a 16% increase in sales year on year. While Apple was in fourth place, Realme came in fifth.