Smartphones shipped to the China market shrank to only 62 million units in the first quarter of 2023, down 12.4% sequentially and 7.2% on year, but the volumes in the second quarter are expected to stay at about the same level as in the first.
The declines in the first quarter were because some brand vendors already pre-stocked extra inventory in December 2022 for their promotions during the Lunar New Year holidays that took place in mid-January, while most brand vendors' sales in the latter two months of the first quarter after the holidays were unsatisfactory.
Among the top-5 Chinese smartphone brands, Oppo, Honor, Vivo and Xiaomi all experienced an on-year decline in their shipments to the China market in the first quarter with Huawei being the only brand with an on-year shipment growth.
