Vendors in China have shipped 190 million smartphones in the first half of the year, a decline of 6% over the same period last year, according to a report released on Thursday by market research firm CINNO Research.
Why it matters: China, the largest smartphone market in the world, has seen smartphone shipments decline for six consecutive quarters due to high rates of market penetration, and a slowing economy amid the US-China trade war.
- Chinaโs gross domestic product grew at 6.2% in the second quarter, the slowest quarterly growth rate since 1992.
- Analysts have said smartphone vendors were likely to see a turnaround by the end of this year as gadgets with faster fifth-generation cellular network connectivity will drive more smartphone purchases.
Details: Huawei continues to lead the smartphone market with sales up 18.1% in the first half of the year, securing 34.3% of market share, while smartphone shipments for its smaller rival Xiaomi fell 20% year on year during the same period.
- Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei said in an interview with Yahoo Finance published on Monday that he expects Huawei to ship 30% more handsets globally this year despite being cut off by the US government from its American suppliers.
- Ren also said in early June that the company was preparing for drop of 40 million to 60 million units in international smartphone shipments this year compared with 2018.
- With the forecasted drop in international sales, any gain in overall shipments is attributable to surging domestic sales, consistent with recent data showing that Huaweiโs slice of the domestic smartphone market is growing.
