Smartphone shipments to the Chinese market amounted to 58.4 million units in the third quarter of 2022, falling 20.5% from a year ago to a new low since third-quarter 2020, as a result of China's lockdown restrictions and weakening market demand, according to DIGITIMES Research's latest figures from China Smartphone Market report.
"Looking into fourth-quarter 2022, as economic outlook and consumer confidence show no sign of recovery in China, most smartphone brands will continue prioritizing inventory clearance. As such, smartphone shipments to the China market are estimated to show still a more than 20% on-year decline in fourth-quarter 2022," said DIGITIMES Research senior analyst Luke Lin
The top-4 Chinese brands - Oppo, Honor, Vivo, and Xiaomi - all experienced an on-year decline in third-quarter 2022 shipments, while Huawei's shipments in the quarter increased thanks to a low comparison base in the second quarter of 2022 sequentially and picked up more than 30% from a year ago, the figures show.
With all vendors included, the top-5 brands in terms of smartphone shipments to China in the third quarter were Oppo, Honor, Vivo, Apple and Xiaomi. Compared to the prior quarter, Apple's and Xiaomi's rankings were switched with the top-5 brands together representing 88.5% of the China smartphone market, a drop from a quarter ago since Huawei has continued enjoying an increased share and was ranked at sixth place.
Going into fourth-quarter 2022, Apple is expected to return as the number one smartphone brand in China with shipments driven by robust iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max demand, Lin added.
Chart 1: China smartphone market shipments, 3Q21-4Q22 (m units)
Source: DIGITIMES Research, December 2022
