China’s Smartphone Market on a Rollercoaster: February’s Decline and the Implications for Foreign Brands

In February, China’s smartphone market experienced a significant decline after showing positive growth in January. Local brands dominated the market, accounting for approximately 83% of total shipments, while foreign products only made up around 2.4 million units. Analysts like Kuo Ming-Chi from TF International Securities have predicted a decline of about 15% in annual iPhone shipments. This trend poses a significant challenge for smartphone manufacturers, especially foreign brands, as they try to maintain their market share in one of the most competitive environments globally.

In January, total smartphone shipments surged by 61.4% to 29.5 million units, with local brands seeing a 165% increase. However, this growth was not sustained into February when total smartphone shipments dropped by over 30%, totaling 14 million units compared to the previous year. The decline was particularly felt by foreign brands such as Apple’s iPhone, which saw a 31.7% decrease from the previous year.

When looking at the first two months of 2024, total smartphone shipments increased by 12.5% to 43.6 million units, with 5G models experiencing a growth of 13.3%. However, despite this increase in demand for high-speed networks and devices that can take advantage of them, Apple has been facing a decline in iPhone demand in China.

Unit sales fell by 24% year-on-year in the first six weeks of 2024 due to various factors such as competition from local brands and changing consumer preferences towards budget-friendly devices.

With declining demand and rapidly changing market dynamics, innovative and adaptive strategies will be necessary for all major players in the industry to maintain their position in this highly competitive environment.