DIGITIMES Research's China smartphone industry report predicts that China's smartphone shipments are expected to decrease by 18.5% in the first quarter of 2024.
China's smartphone industry players are conservative about their sales during the country's Lunar New Year holidays in the first quarter of 2024. This is due to overseas markets entering the slow season.
Combined shipments of China's smartphone brands combined shipments were up 11.2% sequentially and 18% on year in the fourth quarter of 2023. As overseas markets were in the strong season, demand from emerging markets also heated up and sales in the China market benefited from Singles' Day promotions, the report's figures show.
China-based smartphone vendors shipped a total of 181.2 million units in the fourth quarter of 2023. Regarding the different market tiers, the top-3 brands – Xiaomi, Oppo, and Transsion – together experienced a sequential shipment growth weaker than that of the non-top-3 makers combined.
The combined shipment share of the top-3 brands decreased to 58.3%. This is compared to 2023's third-quarter results of 59.4%.
Looking into the first quarter of 2024, the high unemployment among the young generation and migrant workers in China is persisting. The public is pessimistic about the economic outlook.
After stepping up the inventory preparation for China's Singles' Day promotions in the previous quarter, the country's vendors are conservative about their shipments in the first quarter of 2024 for the domestic smartphone market. Coupled with overseas markets entering the slow season, the first-quarter 2024 smartphone shipments by China-based vendors are estimated to decline significantly to 147.7 million units.
