Smartphone sales expected to rebound in second half of 2023
Market leader Vivo launched several models over the past month, covering its Vivo and iQOO brands.
Chinese mainland smartphone sales decreased by 23.2 percent in the first 11 months last year, facing challenges like the pandemic and sluggish demand. But smartphone brands continue increasing investment and kicking off new models, and industry officials and analysts expect the market may start to rebound in the second half of 2023.
In the first 11 months last year, smartphone sales on the Chinese mainland reached 244 million units, a 23.2 percent decrease from a year ago. Among them, 5G smartphone sales accounted for 78 percent of the total sales, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, or CAICT.
According to CINNO Research, Chinese mainland smartphone sales decreased by 21.7 percent in November, but its sales grew slightly at 2 percent compared with October.
The growth may come from the Double 11 (November 11) shopping festival and a richer variety of new models. But the market will still be tough in the first half of 2023 with the pandemic and an influenced economy, said CINNO.
In a previous interview, IDC analysts expected the market rebound may happen in the second half of 2023.
Brands are still kicking off new models to woo consumers. OnePlus, now a sub-brand of OPPO, released OnePlus 11 this week. It can accept "zero profitability" now as it recently received a 10 billion yuan (US$1.45 billion) of investment from OPPO, said Li Jie, OnePlus China president.
Market leader Vivo also launched several models over the past month, covering its Vivo and iQOO brands. The S16 models target consumers with portrait and selfie photography improvements and a jade-like design.
