Total shipments of China-based smartphone makers in first-quarter 2017 were 134.30 million units, representing flat growth compared to first-quarter 2016 and showing an on-quarter drop of 28.8%.
Digitimes Research estimates overall fourth-quarter 2016 shipments from China-based smartphone firms were 181.8 million units with an on-quarter increase of 4.4% and an on-year increase of 12.8%.
Digitimes Research expects global application processor (AP) shipments to increase more than 8% in 2017 and surpass the 1.9 billion mark, with smartphones remaining the main application. After slumping in 2015, Qualcomm returned to form in 2016 and will continue leading the market in 2017, as other players continue playing catch up and scramble for funds to invest in more diverse applications such as IoT and other smart end-device applications.
Smartphone shipments in the China market reached 112.3 million units in the third quarter, up 5.8% on year and 5.2% on quarter. China-based telecom carriers continued to offer subsidies to encourage existing 2G or 3G service users to switch to a 4G service and thus created strong demand for inexpensive 4G smartphones.
Smartphone shipments in the China market totaled 149 million units in the second quarter of 2016, representing an increase of 2.7% on quarter and 14.3% on year.
Total smartphone shipments by China-based vendors reached 128.6 million units in the first quarter of 2016, down 20.2% on quarter but up 33.3% on year.
In 2016, China's smartphone panel capacity is expected to increase steadily, with BOE and Tianma expanding 6G capacity and GVO and Truly Optoelectronics increasing their share of handset panel production. This Digitimes Research Special Report analyzes the key trends affecting China's smartphone panel industry including LTPS and AMOLED technology developments, the role of smartphone makers in the supply chain, capacity expansion plans and panel pricing for each market segment.
Looking forward to the first quarter of 2016, with both China-based makers and international brands aggressively spreading out their new products including all low, mid, and high cost models on the market in the fourth quarter of 2015, the market will have to digest some of the accumulated inventory in the first quarter.
In September, Digitimes Research surveyed China's smartphone supply chain. After analyzing the industry as well as relative market data, it found that in the third quarter, there were 59.8 million new 3G/4G users in China, which is higher than the average growth rate for the first half.
Smartphone sales in China no longer show any significant momentum for growth as the fast maturing market now increasingly relies on replacement demand from existing users.
This Digitimes Research Special Report details Intel's mobile AP strategies, status, advantages, partnerships and operating system support for different smart mobile device markets. It analyzes the CPU giant's operation progress in different industries in 2014 and forecasts Intel's development and direction for 2015 and beyond.
According to Digitimes Research's survey of the Mainland China smartphone supply chain, as well as other relative vendors, increased demand for Apple's new device models, Mainland China's high-end smartphone models experienced lackluster sales in the first quarter of 2015.
