China’s smartphone market weakened further in late 2018, with a government agency releasing data showing shipments dropped 16.8 per cent year-on-year to 33.3 million units in December.

Data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) showed full year shipments were 15.3 per cent lower than in 2017 at 391 million units. Smartphones accounted for 94.3 per cent of total mobile phone shipments in the country during 2018.

Total shipments of 414 million units were down 15.6 per cent year-on-year: CAICT said domestic brands accounted for 89.5 per cent of the total.

Meanwhile, Canalys estimates smartphone shipments in the country decreased 12 per cent year-on-year in 2018 and forecast a 3 per cent drop in 2019. A decline in 2018 would mark the third consecutive annual drop.

LG, Samsung and Apple all recently cut their guidance for the October to December period due to weaker than expected demand for smartphones.

Counterpoint Research expects the global smartphone market to decline for the first time in 2018, primarily due to the further slowdown of saturated markets, particularly China.