The Chinese vendors had acted conservatively with their shipments in the fourth quarter of 2022 to prevent a further increase in their channel inventory levels since the domestic smartphone market was still sluggish while overseas markets were seriously undermined by rising inflation.
In terms of the top-3 China-based smartphone brands' shipments in the fourth quarter of 2022, Oppo suffered a small sequential decline while Xiaomi and Vivo both enjoyed growth. The three vendors together represented 63.1% of China-based brands' combined shipments, down from 65.4% in a quarter earlier.
Looking into first-quarter 2023, domestic demand in China will have difficulty recovering. On top of the slow season in markets abroad, smartphone shipments by China-based vendors will continue trending lower.
Table 1: Key factors affecting the 4Q22 and 1Q23 China smartphone industry – Supply
Table 2: Key factors affecting the 4Q22 and 1Q23 China smartphone industry – Demand
Chart 1: China smartphone industry shipments, 4Q21-1Q23 (m units)
Chart 6: China smartphone industry's export shipments, 4Q21-1Q23 (m units)
Chart 7: Export shipments by Chinese vendor, 4Q21-1Q23 (m units)
