Chinese Smartphone Shipments Drop 12% to 15.5% in 2018: Report

The slump in China could lead to a 1 percent contraction of the global smartphone market.

December 2018 saw a major 17 percent slump in Chinese smartphone shipments.

(Photo: iStock)

Smartphone shipments in China fell between 12 percent to 15.5 percent in 2018, according to market data, Reuters reported, indicating a bleak output for the smartphone sector in the country this year as well.

Reuters cited data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), a research institute under the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which said that shipments dropped to roughly 390 million units for last year.

December 2018 saw a major 17 percent slump.

The agency cited another market research firm as saying that it expects shipments in 2019 to dip below 400 million for the first time since 2014. It said that the Chinese smartphone market could shrink another three percent in 2019.

Shipments are defined as the number of smartphones that are delivered to retailers and carriers, different from sales that happen when customers actually buy them.

Canalys, the firm cited by Reuters, also said that this slump in China could lead to a 1 percent contraction of the global smartphone market.

China, being the world’s largest smartphone market, has seen a drop in the demand for gadgets due to a slowing economy, made worse by a trade war with the United States.

(With inputs from Reuters)