Nearly half the phones shipped in the world’s top market this year were 5G models

China is the largest smartphone market in the world (followed by India and the U.S.). But as the saying goes, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. According to English language news site China Daily, the number of smartphones shipped in China last month totaled 32.66 million units; that was a 10.4% decline from the number of units shipped during the same month last year. During the first five months of 2020, from January through May, 121 million smartphones were delivered in China for a 16% annual decline.

Last month, 5G phone shipments in China amounted to 15.64 million units or 47.8% of the total smartphone deliveries made in the country during May. Over the first five months of the year, 46.08 million 5G phones were shipped in China including 81 new 5G models. During the the first quarter of 2020 Huawei had the largest market share of smartphone shipments in China with a 28.4% slice of the pie followed by the 12% and 11.8% of the market owned by Vivo and Oppo respectively.

Overall, 33.8 million mobile phones were shipped in China last month, down 11.8% year-over-year. This figure includes both smartphones and feature phones. 124 million mobile phones were delivered in China during the five months from January through May resulting in an 18% decline on an annual basis. 32 new models were shipped in May, a decline of 22% year-over-year, and 169 new models were shipped from January through May; this resulted in an 18.8% shortfall on an annual basis. Not surprisingly, 91.7% of the handsets shipped in China during May, and 90% of those shipped over the first five months of 2020 were produced by domestic brands.