Smartphone shipments in the China market stayed flat on quarter but fell 11.8% on year to 94.1 million units in the second quarter of 2017, accounting for 28.9% of total global smartphone shipments, according to Digitimes Research.
Based on the information provided by supply chain makers, Digitimes Research believes that vendors including Huawei, Oppo and Vivo have increased their component orders for the third quarter, which is likely to result in an over 20% on-quarter growth in smartphone shipments in China in the third quarter.
China's smartphone shipments will again drop slightly on a yearly basis in the fourth quarter of 2017 as vendors are expected to adjust their shipments appropriately as compared to an aggressive shipment strategy adopted a year earlier.
There were two main reasons for the lackluster shipment performance in China in the second quarter, according to Digitimes Research's latest China smartphone report. Firstly, due to a lack of a clearly subsidy policy at operators, the number of new 4G service subscribers at the top-three telecom operators hit a low of 56 million in the quarter resulting a decline in demand as well as sales of the entry-level and mid-range 4G smartphones. Besides, some vendors adjusted downward their shipments for the second quarter to help digest the high inventory levels at channels.
The top-five smartphone vendors in the China market in the second quarter were Huawei, Xiaomi Technology, Vivo, Oppo and Apple. Among them, Xiaomi saw its shipments more than double in the quarter as it has managed to clear out the inventories of old models, while demands for its Mi 4X and Note 4X models have been brisk.
Meanwhile, Oppo and Vivo are ready to further ramp up their shipments in the third quarter as they also have effectively cleared out their inventories at channels in the first half of the year.