China’s Smartphone Market Faces Significant Decline, While Local Brands Continue to Dominate

The Chinese smartphone market experienced a significant decline in February, following positive growth in January. According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, smartphone shipments decreased by over 30% compared to the previous year, totaling 14 million units. Local brands dominated the market, accounting for approximately 83% of total shipments, while foreign products such as Apple’s iPhone only made up around 2.4 million units, marking a decrease of about 31.7% from the previous year.

However, the first two months of 2024 saw an increase in total smartphone shipments by 12.5%, with 5G models experiencing a growth of about 13.3%. This was despite Apple facing a decline in iPhone demand in China, with unit sales falling by about 24% year-on-year in the first six weeks of 2024. Analysts like Kuo Ming-Chi from TF International Securities have predicted that this trend will continue and there will be a decline of about 15% in annual iPhone shipments.

This 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. With declining demand and rapidly changing market dynamics, innovative and adaptive strategies will be necessary for all major players in the industry to survive and thrive in this competitive landscape.