Smartphone shipments to the China market came to 62.8 million units in the second quarter of 2023, edging upward 0.6% from a quarter ago and decreasing 2.2% from a year ago, according to DIGITIMES Research's latest figures from the report covering China's smartphone market.
Despite the 618 shopping festival, smartphone brands were not keen on building up their inventory in the second quarter of 2023, concerning about still sluggish market demand.
Looking into the second half of 2023, smartphone shipments to the China market are expected to show a sequential decrease in the third quarter and then a sequential increase in the fourth quarter. In sum, second-half 2023 smartphone shipments to the China market will exhibit flat growth from the level seen in the same period a year ago.
Among the top-5 China-based smartphone brands, Oppo, Vivo, Honor, and Xiaomi all experienced another on-year decline in their second-quarter 2023 shipments to the China market while Huawei delivered a double-digit on-year growth, the report's figures show.
Taking non-Chinese brands such as Apple into account, the top-5 vendors in terms of second-quarter 2023 smartphone shipments to the China market were Oppo, Vivo, Honor, Apple, and Xiaomi. They together represented 88.2% of the Chinese smartphone market in the quarter.
Compared to the prior quarter, Apple slid to fourth place from the top, while Oppo climbed from second place to first, Vivo from third place to second, and Honor up one position to third.
Looking into the second half of 2023, the China market is expected to have spent the full early third quarter on digesting the channel inventory built for the 618 shopping festival, resulting in the vendors' combined third-quarter 2023 shipments to the China market only experiencing a low single-digit sequential decline. Fourth-quarter 2023 shipments to the China market have a chance to enjoy a double-digit sequential growth, buoyed by Singles' Day promotions.
