China's smartphone shipments fell 6% in the second quarter, with Xiaomi's sales down 20% year-on-year

Market research company Canalys today released a statistical report on the second quarter smartphone market in mainland China. The report shows that smartphone shipments in China in the second quarter were 97.6 million units, down 6% from 103.6 million units in the same period last year, marking the ninth consecutive quarter of decline. The report points out that Chinese consumers are using their smartphones for longer periods of time and upgrading them less frequently.

In the first half of this year, an important factor influencing consumers to upgrade their mobile phones was the upcoming launch of 5G networks and devices. The expectation for the new generation of networks prompted consumers to postpone the purchase of mid- to high-end LTE devices.

Huawei's smartphone shipments in the Chinese market soared in the second quarter, reaching 37.3 million units, up 31% from 28.5 million units in the same period last year, and its market share also hit a record high of 38.2% among all manufacturers in the past eight years, up 10.6 percentage points from 27.6% in the same period last year. In Huawei's second quarter global smartphone shipments, 64% came from China, the highest proportion since the second quarter of 2013.

Except for Huawei, the smartphone shipments of the other four major manufacturers all declined year-on-year. OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi Group and Apple ranked second to fifth, with smartphone shipments of 17.9 million, 17.1 million, 11.5 million and 5.7 million units respectively in the second quarter, down 18%, 19%, 20% and 14% year-on-year, with market shares of 18.3%, 17.5%, 11.8% and 5.8% respectively.

Huawei will release its first-half results later today.