China Smartphone Shipments Fall for Fifth Straight Quarter as Costs Rise
Huawei and Apple gained share as most Android vendors lifted prices or cut budget models, while first-half shipments fell 4.2%, IDC said.
- China's smartphone shipments fell 4.3% to 66 million units in the second quarter, as manufacturers hiked prices to reflect rising memory and component costs, research firm IDC said on Tuesday.
- Surging DRAM prices forced manufacturers to raise prices or thin out budget lines to maintain margins as chip makers diverted capacity toward AI accelerators.
- Huawei Technologies and Apple shipments rose 19.4% and 24.4% respectively, while Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo fell 21.7%, 9.7%, and 11.4% amid the cost squeeze.
- Marking the fifth straight quarterly decline, first-half shipments fell 4.2% from a year earlier, cementing a sustained contraction across Chinese warehouses.
- IDC forecasts worldwide smartphone shipments will fall 13.9% in 2026, with meaningful new memory supply not expected until late 2027, prolonging industry pressure.
14 Articles
14 Articles
China smartphone shipments fall for fifth straight quarter as costs rise
iPhone grows China market share as price hikes harm Android rivals
The iPhone is one of the bright points of China's contracting smartphone market, seeing massive growth thanks to not raising its prices.iPhone sales in China are doing better than the rest of the market, says IDC. The global RAM crisis is a problem for the entire tech industry and is also affecting consumer spending. However, while Apple fights the same problem as everyone else, it is one of the few winners in China's smartphone market.In a July…
Huawei and Apple Get Boost in China From Memory Crisis, IDC Says
Huawei Technologies Co. and Apple Inc. extended their lead atop China’s smartphone market in the June quarter, expanding their shipments as consumers opted to either buy premium devices or skip upgrades, according to IDC.
iPhone 17 Pricing Helped Apple Buck China's Q2 Smartphone Decline
Apple grew iPhone shipments in China by 24.4 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2026, making it the fastest-growing smartphone brand in a market that shrank overall, according to preliminary figures released today by research firm IDC. Total shipments in China fell 4.3 percent to roughly 66 million units, amounting to a fifth consecutive quarter of decline. Apple and Huawei were the only major vendors to grow, with Huawei up 19.4 percent.
Huawei and Apple extended their lead in the Chinese smartphone market during the second quarter of the year. Against a backdrop of generally declining sales, both companies managed to increase shipments thanks to the strong performance of entry-level devices. According to data from the consulting firm IDC, this performance is partly attributed to a shortage of memory chips, which forced Android phone manufacturers to raise their prices. As a res…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 63% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
