China's Smartphone Market Narrowed its Decline to -10.3 Percent in 2Q20

87.8 million smartphones were shipped in China during the second quarter of 2020, down 10.3% year-on-year, according to the IDC. Evidently, consumer sentiment was a challenge but this was still a narrower figure compared to the first quarter's 20.3% decline, resulting to a 14.9% contraction from the same period last year in 1H20.

"China was slowly recovering in the second quarter while other regions were fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic. This in turn allowed the Chinese vendors to expand their 5G product portfolio in their home market. In 2Q20, almost half of the smartphones in China were shipped with 5G connectivity, ahead of other regions or countries," said Will Wong, Research Manager for Client Devices at IDC Asia/Pacific.

Huawei continued to capture a higher market share at 45.2% with 9,5% growth. vivo captured 17,1% of the market, 18% less compared with the same period in 2019. OPPO was third and held 16,0% of Chinese market, 22,7% less than a year ago. Xiaomi held fourth place with 10,4% and a 21,9% decline year-on-year, while Apple managed to grow 11,6% and captured fifth place with 8,3%. Other players managed to get only 2,9% of the market with a slump of 62,8%.

More than 43 million 5G smartphones were shipped in China in 2Q20, with the weighted average selling price falling below US$500. Since the first 5G smartphone launched in 3Q19, China has so far shipped a total of 67 million 5G handsets.

In the 5G space, Huawei Hisilicon was the largest supplier of 5G processors, followed by Qualcomm. MediaTek has gained share with its cheaper processors and Samsung has also become a key supplier in the local market by partnering with vivo.

"A number of 5G models are getting attention for their aggressive prices at or below the RMB 2,000 (US$290) mark, but these have not been the bulk of the shipments yet. Nevertheless, as cheaper 5G processors are expected to launch in the second half of the year, this pricing segment will pick up its momentum," said Xi Wang, Research Manager for Client System Research at IDC China.