Smartphone sales in China plummeted to 21% in the first quarter of 2018, making it the most significant decline the country has suffered since 2013.
Research firm Canalys states that Chinese consumers bought only 91 million phone units in the first three months of this year.
According to Canalys analyst, Mo Jia, they had foreseen the decline but did not expect it to be huge.
The South Korean company, Samsung, through Jia, reported that they sold only 2 million devices in China, making it a 50% decrease compared to the same period last year.
Apple also suffered a decline, slipping from fourth to fifth place regarding sales. However, Canalys declined to say the number of devices Apple sold in China, but they said that it was a “significant decline” in shipments.
Local smartphone brand, Xiaomi dethroned Apple, the latter having the most significant growth in shipment by 37 percent to 12 million units sold.
Jia mentioned that Apple has a sharp image, but their product and innovation is restricted to iPhone X, a high-priced unit.
He added that most Chinese could not afford the price, so they switch to other smartphone brands, like Huawei or Oppo.
Further, the research showed that local smartphone brands like Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi are dominating China’s smartphone industry, accounting for more than 73 percent of total shipments to China for the first quarter.
Despite the decline, Canalys predicts growth in the market due to the release of new flagship phones from Oppo and Vivo. They also said that the new smartphones would entice people to upgrade, but vendors are more careful in avoiding an oversupply.
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