China-based smartphone brands' shipments are expected to make a recovery in the second quarter, stimulated by robust demand from the 618 shopping festival, with on-year decline to also shrink to less than 10%, according to DIGITIMES Research's latest figures from the China smartphone industry report.
With smartphone sales in the China market remaining feeble, consumption in overseas markets significantly undermined by high inflation, and Chinese smartphone brands acting conservatively over their shipments to keep their channel inventory low because of the slow season, smartphone shipments by the Chinese brand vendors are expected to slip 13.2% sequentially and 17.1% on year in the first quarter of 2023.
China-based brands shipped a total of around 133 million smartphones in the first quarter. Of the top three brands, only Oppo had a small on-quarter shipment decline, while Xiaomi and Vivo both suffered a double-digit sequential decrease in the quarter. The top three brands' combined volumes accounted for 63.9% of all Chinese brands' shipments, slightly higher than fourth-quarter 2022's 63.1% since vendors such as Honor and Lenovo had an even larger sequential shipment decline in the first quarter, the figures from the report show.
Smartphone demand in China is still weak in the second quarter, but brands' shipments are still expected to pick up thanks to China's 618 shopping festival and overseas markets have started exiting the slow season.
DIGITIMES Research's surveys with upstream supply chain and analyses of market demand show most brands' second-quarter shipments will see a high single-digit sequential growth with their effective digestion of channel inventory in the first quarter. Meanwhile, their on-year shipment declines will also shrink to only a single-digit percentage thanks to a low comparison base in the second quarter of 2022.
