A “significant” 15 per cent year-on-year growth in smartphone sales was achieved during the “golden week” holiday, from September 29 to October 6, celebrating China’s National Day, according to a research note on Friday by TF International Securities analyst Kuo Ming-chi, known for his focus on Apple-related matters.
“The slump in the Chinese smartphone market will be over soon, with expectations of renewed growth,” Kuo wrote. He indicated that handset shipments in the country, the world’s biggest smartphone market, will see growth resume in the fourth quarter this year.
Macroeconomic headwinds, along with coronavirus-related disruptions since 2020, have weakened consumer demand in mainland China and shrunk smartphone sales since 2017. In the first eight months of 2023, China’s total unit volume sales fell 4 per cent year on year, according to data from market research firm Counterpoint.
Even China’s smartphone production continued to decline in the first eight months of the year. The country manufactured 679 million smartphones from January to August this year, down 7.5 per cent from the same period in 2022, according to data published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology earlier this month.
The market’s outlook for the rest of 2023 could improve on the back of the new 5G smartphones released by Huawei and Apple, as well as the coming winter sales season, according to an October 6 Post report that cited Counterpoint senior research analyst Ivan Lam.
In another sign of a rebound, China’s smartphone export volume rose to 83.5 million units in September, up almost 30 per cent from 64.6 million in August, according to official government data released on Friday.
China’s smartphone manufacturing output declines in first 8 months of year
China’s smartphone manufacturing output declines in first 8 months of year
Still, the total smartphone export volume in the January to September period remained down 8.5 per cent year on year to 561.4 million units, according to official data.
Apple’s new iPhone 15 series, meanwhile, has also drawn long queues of shoppers at the company’s bricks-and-mortar stores in China. Online orders of the top-of-the-line iPhone 15 Pro Max currently require wait times of four to five weeks before delivery, which has prompted some consumers on social media to share their shipping status and reference other people’s orders.
