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China 1Q21 smartphone shipments increase 9%, says Digitimes Research

Sean Lin, DIGITIMES Research, Taipei

Smartphone shipments totaled 94.6 million units in the China market in the first quarter of 2021, up 9% sequentially and 99.6% on year, Digitimes Research has found.

First-quarter smartphone shipments by Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo were their highest records for the same quarter, thanks to their stockpiles of handset chips and other components in advance, according to Digitimes Research.

Huawei's smartphone shipments continued to dwindle in the first quarter, and shipments from Honor, a spun-off of Huawei, did not come in significant volumes as the vendor plans to launch mainstream models in the second quarter.

Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, Huawei, and Apple were the top five brands in China's handset market in the first quarter, accounting for a total of 91.8% share. Including Honor, the top-six brands accounted for 98% of the market.

Looking ahead, most brands, except for Honor, are likely to see their shipments scale down in the second quarter due to the shortages of parts and components.

Overall smartphone shipments in the China market are forecast to fall 19.3% in the second quarter from the previous quarter, Digitimes Research forecasts.