IDC reports smartphone shipment lower in China, flat in India
According to the IDC Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, smartphone shipments in China stood at 66.6 million units in the first quarter of 2020, a 20.3% decline from 83.6 million units a year ago. This marked the largest decline ever in China as the market was hit by both supply chain disruptions and a demand slump due to lockdowns and the COVID-19 pandemic, according to IDC.
| China Smartphone Market, Top 5 Company Shipments, Market Share, and YoY Growth, Q1 2020 (shipments in millions) | |||||
| Vendor | 2020Q1 Shipments | 2020Q1 Market Share | 2019Q1 Shipments | 2019Q1 Market Share | YOY Growth |
| 1. Huawei | 28.4 | 42.6% | 29.7 | 35.5% | -4.4% |
| 2. vivo | 12.0 | 18.1% | 16.0 | 19.1% | -24.5% |
| 3. OPPO | 11.8 | 17.8% | 14.1 | 16.8% | -15.8% |
| 4. Xiaomi | 7.0 | 10.6% | 10.6 | 12.7% | -33.8% |
| 5. Apple | 5.1 | 7.6% | 5.8 | 6.9% | -12.2% |
| Others | 2.3 | 3.4% | 7.6 | 9.0% | -69.9% |
| Total | 66.6 | 100.0% | 83.6 | 100% | -20.3% |
| Source: IDC Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, 2020Q1 | |||||
| Note: All figures are rounded off | |||||
“February was the trough of the quarter before the market started its recovery in March, both in terms of production and demand,” says Will Wong, Research Manager for Client Devices at IDC Asia/Pacific. Wong adds, “Nevertheless, demand will still be under pressure from the global economic downturn. The market is only expected to achieve annual growth in the fourth quarter as the global COVID-19 situation hopefully improves and 5G products reach a lower price range.”
2020Q1 Top 5 Smartphone Vendor Highlights:
- Huawei achieved the best performance among the top 5 vendors mainly due to its early price promotions on Huawei’s Mate 30 and P30 series.
- vivo‘s online-focused products like iQOO and the Z and U series helped to enhance its online channel footprint, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown period. vivo also continued to focus on the 5G market by launching a mid-range 5G model, Z6, to penetrate the US$200<400 segment.
- OPPO maintained its spot in the third-place after slipping to the position in early 2019. Its mid-range Reno 3 Young model helped the vendor penetrate the lower-end 5G segment, while its Find X2 Pro model was launched to test the water in the >US$800 segment.
- Xiaomi experienced a supply shortage for its Redmi series in the first half of the quarter. Nevertheless, the vendor was able to launch the MI 10 series by mid-February that aimed to target the high-end segment and differentiate between MI and Redmi brands.
- Apple suffered a larger impact this quarter as its factories resumed production more gradually than the competition.
In other news, IDC reports India’s smartphone market saw a relatively flat opening quarter with year-over-year (YoY) growth of 1.5% to 32.5 million units in 1Q20. Despite that, India was the only country amongst the top 3 to see any growth, as both China and USA markets declined YoY by (-20.3%) and (-16.0%) respectively in 1Q20. Inventories remained high throughout the distribution channels due to seasonally low demand in the first quarter, clubbed with the COVID-19 impact from mid-March 2020 onwards as the nationwide lockdown was announced.
“The online channel grew by 9.0% YoY in 1Q20 due to multiple new launches, attractive discounts, cashback offers, and affordability schemes registering a share of 43.1%. On the other hand, offline channel shipments declined by 3.5% YoY, owing to fewer consumer offers, fewer retail walk-ins, and a more aggressive portfolio available on e-Tailer platforms across leading brands,” says Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India.