China Sees Slowdown In Foreign-Branded Smartphone Growth

Foreign-branded smartphone sales in mainland China, including those of Apple’s iPhone, rose by 10.9 percent year-on-year in June to 2.87 million units, down significantly from previous months, government research found.

Overall shipments of phones within China rose by 12.5 percent to 24.91 million handsets, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT).

In the previous two months sales of foreign-branded handsets grew by more than 40 percent each month, CAICT figures showed.

Apple is the biggest foreign smartphone brand in China, and exerts a significant influence on the overall figures on foreign-branded handsets.

Domestic competition

Analyst Canalys found Apple’s sales in mainland China for the quarter ended in June fell by 6.7 percent year-on-year as it dropped out of the top five biggest vendors in the country to sixth place.

Canalys said the mainland China’s smartphone market experienced growth of 10 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, with shipments exceeding 70 million units.

China is one of Apple’s key markets, but earlier this year Counterpoint Research found that during the first quarter iPhone sales in China fell 19 percent, as domestic tech giant Huawei experienced a 69.7 percent surge in smartphone sales in the country during the same period.

The figures underscore Apple’s challenges in a market where Huawei has seen renewed growth and has risen to domestic popularity on a wave of patriotic enthusiasm.

Canalys found iPhone shipments during the second quarter fell by 6.7 percent, with its total shipments in China for the quarter ending in June standing at 9.7 million units, down from 10.4 million units in the same quarter last year.

Apple currently has a market share of 14 percent in mainland China, down from 16 percent a year ago, when it held third place in the market, Canlays found.

Low-cost devices

Vivo rose to become the the top smartphone vendor in mainland China based on shipments with 13.1 million units, capturing a 19 percent market share, Canalys found.

This growth, a 15 percent increase over the previous year, was driven by strong performance in offline channels and robust online sales during the “618” e-commerce festival.

Oppo held onto second place, shipping 11.3 million units, buoyed by the launch of its new Reno 12 series. Third was Honor, with shipments of 10.7 million units, marking a 4 percent year-on-year increase.

Huawei took the fourth spot with shipments of 10.6 million units, as its growth has slowed slightly.