China's smartphone shipments bounce back in Q2: report

BEIJING - Smartphone shipments in China bounced back to above 100 million units in the second quarter of 2018 after a marked decline in the first three months, a new industry report showed.

The recovery provides much needed relief to vendors and channel partners after shipments fell by more than 20 percent to 91 million units in the first quarter, according to the report released by tech industry analysis firm Canalys.

On yearly basis, the Chinese market has shown signs of improvement as the rate of decline eased from 22 percent in the first quarter to 8 percent in the second quarter, the report said.

Huawei, including its sub-brand Honor, saw its market share grow to a record 27 percent, the biggest share for any smartphone vendors in China since the second quarter of 2011, according to the report.

Canalys noted that smaller vendors are finding it tougher to compete, as the top five vendors now account for 90 percent of shipments, against 73 percent a year ago.

"The market is expected to decline in the following quarters as well, mainly owing to harsh declines in shipments from smaller vendors," said Canalys analyst Mo Jia.