According to IDC, 104.1 million smartphones were shipped to China in the first quarter of this year, representing just a 1% rise compared to the same quarter in 2016. The quarter did have product launches, including the Huawei P10, P10 Plus and Honor V9, and due partly to the success of the Honor brand, Huawei gained the top position from Oppo.
In the quarter, the top five smartphone companies dominate 70% of the market and IDC expects their share to continue to rise. They do not expect to see any new smartphone companies entering the Chinese market that will make any difference to market share. Android average selling prices continued their increase mainly due to Huawei, Oppo and Vivo increasing their average selling prices. Chinese consumers were also seeking to upgrade their smartphones to improved specifications, such as to get dual cameras and OLED screens.
Huawei’s Honor 8, Oppo’s R9s and vivo’s X9 were the most popular models in the quarter. These models also had batteries with the capacity of around 3000 mAh, highlighting the importance of phones having a powerful camera and strong battery life. Huawei and Oppo are committed to opening more stores in key cities, while Xiaomi, who used to focus on the online channel, is to open 1,000 Mi Home stores in the next three years in China.
