Smartphone sales fall in China says Gartner

Smartphone sales in China have fallen year-on-year for
the first time, according to data gathered by Gartner.
The market research firm says 4% fewer handsets were
sold in the months of April, May and June compared with
the same period in 2014.
It suggests the market has "reached saturation" -
meaning about half the population owns a smartphone and
is not upgrading on an annual basis.
However, not all manufacturers experienced a drop.
Samsung's sales were 49% lower - despite the launch of its
Galaxy S6 models- and Lenovo also experienced a big fall-
off in demand.
But Apple's sales rose 68%, even though it did not have
new phones out.
Huawei took the top spot in its home country with a 46%
growth in sales.
Gartner research director Anshul Gupta said: "Samsung is
down significantly, not just in China, but in other markets
as well.
"And the Chinese players have taken a significant lead in
their home market."
Samsung's figures will have been affected by problems it
had making the S6 Edge's curved screen, which meant the
firm could not meet demand.
Manufacturer China
rank Q2
2015
China
rank Q2
2014
Growth/fall
in sales
Huawei 1 5 +45.9%
Xiaomi 2 2 +13.4%
Apple 3 6 +67.6%
BBK
Electronics
4 7 +48.9%
Oppo 5 9 +72.5%
Samsung 6 1 -48.9%
Lenovo 7 3 -42.7%
Source:
Gartner
But Mr Gupta stressed that the bigger picture was that
overall sales were down for the first time in the country.
That, he said, was something that might concern all
manufacturers, bearing in mind China accounted for about
30% of global sales, making it the world's biggest market.
"China has reached saturation. Its market is essentially
driven by smartphone replacements rather than upgrades
from feature phones, so they will follow an 18-month, 24-
month, or whatever, replacement cycle."
'Low-hanging fruit'
Another research firm, Strategy Analytics, recently
reported China's smartphone sales had eked out 3% growth
in the April-to-June period - so, Gartner's headline
finding is not undisputed.
But Strategy Analytics' own figure was still significantly
down on the 29% growth it reported for the second quarter
of 2014.
"The smartphone market in China has been slowing down
for several quarters and a lot of the low-hanging fruit has
been picked," the firm's executive director, Neil Mawston,
told the BBC.
"Most people in major cities like Beijing already own a
smartphone, and the penetration of smartphones across
the general population is approaching 50% or more, which
is a relatively high rate."
China's smartphone sales tend to be strongest in the first
quarter, when people give presents to mark the Chinese New
Year.
In addition, many of the highest-profile launches tend to
happen in the last five months of the year, so many
industry watchers may wish to see further data before
accepting that the country's smartphone market is truly in
retreat.
"The Chinese economy is also not as strong as it was, and
the level of innovation from smartphone-makers is also
taking a pause at the moment," added Mr Mawston.