(Yicai Global) April 27 -- China’s smartphone market has not picked up after Covid-19 controls were lifted, mainly due to a lack of consumer confidence and lengthening replacement cycles, according to a new report by market intelligence provider International Data Corporation.

Shipments in the world’s biggest smartphone market fell 11.8 percent to 65.44 million units in the three months ended March 31, the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report showed today.

Shipments have fallen by more than 10 percent from a year earlier in each quarter since the start of 2022, IDC pointed out.

“As expected, 1Q23 was not a good start as consumers became more budget conscious or shifted to social activities like dining and traveling,” said Will Wong, senior research manager for client devices at IDC Asia/Pacific.

“Nevertheless, an aggressive pricing strategy is not the sole solution,” Wong added. “Introducing products like foldables, which provides value by impressing friends or enhancing social status for some users, will be equally important.”

More consumers believe there is no need to replace mobile phones often and an increasing number are using theirs for three to four years, IDC noted. With phone makers actively promoting larger memories and storage, it will further extend the replacement cycle.

Chinese handset maker Oppo topped the first-quarter China rankings with a market share of 19.6 percent, followed by Apple with 17.6 percent. Vivo, Honor and Xiaomi ranked third to fifth, with 17.3 percent, 16 percent and 13 percent, respectively, according to the report.

Oppo’s high-end strategy has begun to bear fruit, especially its new foldable-screen flagship Find N2 Flip which has gone viral this season, helping the Dongguan-based company return to first place in the Chinese market after a year, IDC observed.

Shipments of foldable phones jumped 53 percent from a year ago to 1.02 million units in the first quarter. With more manufacturers joining in and more products being released, shipments will continue to maintain rapid growth this year, it added.

According to a previous IDC forecast, China’s smartphone market will rebound in the second half of this year, but annual shipments will still decline by 1.1 percent from 2022 to 283 million units. As the recovery continues, shipments are set to grow 6.2 percent to 300 million next year.

Editor: Peter Thomas