China’s smartphone industry set for a tough 2023

BEIJING: Facing supply chain disruptions and weak consumer demand amid Covid surge, China's smartphone industry is set for a tough 2023 and is not expected to see "meaningful growth until 2024," a report said on Sunday.

Total smartphone shipments in China is likely to drop 10 per cent in 2022 to 285 million units, according to the industry research firm IDC, reports South China Morning Post.

"The Chinese smartphone market is only expected to see full-year growth in 2024," according to Will Wong, a Singapore-based IDC analyst.

The country's smartphone shipments in November nosedived 36 per cent (year on year) to 22.2 million units.

In the first 11 months of 2022, sales were down 23.6 per cent compared to the same period in the previous year, according to a report by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT).

All top five smartphone brands, led by Apple with 4.8 million units, experienced sharp declines in November.

"Vivo, ranked fifth in November, was the worst hit with a 36.2 per cent slump to 2.3 million units sold in the month," the report mentioned.

Apple supplier Foxconn's key plant in the central city of Zhengzhou, has been hit by severe disruptions including worker protests.