China's Smartphone Market Fell 2.1% in 2Q23 Despite the 618 Online Shopping Festival’s Push, IDC Reports

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According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, 65.7 million smartphones shipped in China in 2Q23, a narrower decline of 2.1% compared to the same period last year. In the first half of the year, the Chinese market saw 130.9 million shipments, down 7.3% year-on-year (YoY).

The sluggish consumer demand recovery offset the bigger discount efforts from smartphone vendors and e-commerce operators, leading to a more-than-5% drop in sales during the “618” online shopping festival. The discouraging sales results indicated the challenging environment will continue in the short term.

Huawei reached the Top 5 again by having a tie with Xiaomi. The return of Huawei was mainly supported by a better product launching pace as well as the favorable sales performance of its P60 series and foldable Mate X3 model. Huawei and Apple were the only vendors with a positive YoY growth in the Top 5 ranking, as the price discounts of Apple’s iPhone 14 series successfully stimulated the demand.

“Gloomy consumer demand is not the only challenge now for the top tier vendors as Huawei made a comeback and potentially triggered more competition in the high-end segment,” said Will Wong, Senior Research Manager for Client Devices at IDC Asia/Pacific. Wong adds, “More intense rivalry is expected to be seen, especially during the product launch period and the Singles’ Day shopping festival.”