China's handset shipments came to about 21.46 million units in March 2022, down 40% from a year earlier, with 5G smartphone shipments falling 41% on year to 16.19 million units, according to data compiled by the Chinese Academy of Information and Communication Technology (CAICT).
For the first quarter of 2022, China's handset shipments totaled 69.35 million units representing a 29% decline compared to the same period in 2021, the CAICT data show.
Apple has also seen its iPhone sales drop in China thus far this year. The vendor sold around two million iPhones in China during March, down from about six million units in January. Apple's iPhone sales in China hovered around 10 million units in the first quarter of 2022, according to CAICT.
Apple's share of China's handset market in terms of unit sales also slid to about 10% in March from nearly 30% in January, CAICT disclosed.
Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and other Chinese brand vendors sold a combined 57.65 million handsets in China in the first quarter of 2022, down 34% from a year ago, according to CAICT.
According to Canalys, worldwide smartphone shipments dropped 11% on year to 311.2 million units in the first quarter of 2022. "The Chinese market caused nearly half the worldwide decline," said the research firm in its recent report. "A strict pandemic control policy has resulted in lockdowns in major cities in China, casting a shadow over the consumer market in the short term. Moreover, disruptions in component production and logistics will affect most vendors' Q2 shipments, both in mainland China and worldwide."
Strategy Analytics said in its recent report that Apple still had a good quarter overall, led by iPhone 13 series and the newly launched iPhone SE. Apple shipped 57 million iPhones worldwide for 18% global marketshare in the first quarter of 2022 - the highest first quarter market share since 2013.
