(Yicai) Jan. 25 -- China's smartphone shipments recovered last quarter after 10 straight quarters of declines as consumers opted for high-end phones, according to an industry report.

Shipments rose by 1 percent to 73.6 million units in the fourth quarter of last year from a year ago, according to the report released by IDC today. Through the entire year of 2023, shipments dropped by 5 percent to a 10-year low of 271 million units from the year before.

The performance fell short of expectations. Demand stems from consumers eyeing high-end products in first to third-tier cities whereas sales of cheaper phones are not good as the mass market of consumers eyeing these budget models are not so keen to change their handsets yet, per the report.

For this year, analysts should maintain prudent optimism, per Guo Tianxiang, senior analyst at IDC. Macroeconomic recovery and residents' spending power are key, and analysts will follow how handset manufacturers manage to stimulate residents of small cities to change their phones. But they have no technological edge right now to do that so the entire sector should choose conservative and pragmatic strategies to manage inventories and stabilize cash flows, he added.

Apple is snatching market share from Chinese runners-up. Last year, the iPhone maker widened its market share in China to 17.3 percent, up from the 2022 figure of 16.8 percent. Honor got a 17.1 percent share, down from 18.1 percent, whereas Oppo ranked third with a 16.7 percent share. The top five all logged declining shipments last year.

Editor: Emmi Laine