IDC's latest Mobile Phone Tracker shows the China smartphone market contracted by 4% year over year (YoY) with 98.8 million units shipped in the first quarter of 2015. This is the first time in six years that the China smartphone market declined YoY as the market continues to mature. On a quarter over quarter (QoQ) basis, the market contracted 8% on the back of a large inventory buildup at the end of last year.
"Smartphones are becoming increasingly saturated in China," said Kitty Fok, Managing Director at IDC China. "China is oftentimes thought of as an emerging market but the reality is that the vast majority of phones sold in China today are smartphones, similar to other mature markets like the US, UK, Australia, and Japan. Just like these markets, convincing existing users as well as feature phone users to upgrade to new smartphones will now be the key to further growth in the China market."
