In China too, the smartphone market is in serious decline, while the country is experiencing an overall slowdown in its economy and is just emerging from the relentless zero-Covid policy.
Vivo X80 Pro, for illustration // Source: Anthony Wonner – Aroged
286 million. This is the total number of smartphones that have been shipped for distribution in the Chinese market in 2021. It illustrates the largest drop in sales recorded in China in the last decade, underlines Reuters. As reported by the British press agency, in one year, smartphone sales in China have fallen by 13% to reach the lowest level since 2013, when the Chinese market last passed. below 300 million units sold.
Several explanations for this decline have been put forward by analysts. The first unsurprisingly touches on the zero-covid policy maintained by the Chinese authorities practically throughout 2021 (they only ended in December). The global slowdown in the Chinese economy and the climate of uncertainty it generates among the population also explains the reluctance of Chinese consumers in the face of expenditure deemed superfluous.
Apple and its iPhones remain well placed in China
The decline in smartphone sales seen in China comes amid a global slowdown in the smartphone market last year. In 2022, global smartphone shipments have indeed reached 1.2 billion: an impressive figure on paper, but which in fact represents the lowest level of sales recorded since 2013, as well as a drop of more than 11% shipments over 2021, according to analyst firm IDC.
Over the whole of 2022, the Chinese slowdown has in any case mainly cost Vivo. While it remains number 1 in the market in China, with 18.6% market share in 2022, the manufacturer has seen its smartphone sales fall by 25.1% over the last year, according to IDC.
Number 2 in the Chinese market in 2022, Honor for its part experienced a 34% increase in sales of its mobiles in China, but starting from a very low level, specifies Reuters, while Apple for its part remained on the third step of the podium with iPhone sales down only 4.4% over the year.
Apart from Honor and its rise, Apple is therefore the only one to have been able to limit the breakage, all its competitors in China having suffered a drop in sales in China of at least 10% during the year 2022.
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