China’s smartphone shipments plunge 21.8% in May amid weak consumption

Smartphone shipments in China plunged 21.8 per cent year on year in May to 23.7 million units, the biggest decline this year, according to the latest data from a government-run research institute.

Foreign brands, including Apple’s iPhone, saw shipments drop by 9.7 per cent in May from a year earlier, outperforming local brands. Domestic manufacturers, including Huawei Technologies and Xiaomi, saw their shipments fall a combined 24.2 per cent, according to data released on Friday by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The May figures marked a downward shift from the previous three months, as monthly shipments from February to April all rose year on year. Smartphone shipments in February jumped 38 per cent year on year to 19.7 million units, although in January they had dropped 14.3 per cent to 27.2 million, CAICT data showed.

“Domestic brands faced difficulties in the release of new models,” the Shenzhen Mobile Communications Association said in a post on its official WeChat account on Saturday.

In May, Chinese brands launched 36 new models, down 25 per cent year on year. In comparison, the first five months saw 192 new releases from local brands, representing a growth of 9.7 per cent.