Analysts fear a collapse in China’s smartphone market – but Apple could benefit

• Corona outbreak in China
• China’s smartphone market is suffering
• Apple on the winning side

China, which has so far come through the corona pandemic relatively unscathed, is currently struggling with the worst wave of infections since the pandemic began. The economic metropolis of Shanghai is by far the worst affected. Since China is one of the last countries in the world to stick to its zero-COVID strategy, many millions of people are currently being forced into lockdown to prevent any contagion.

China’s smartphone market collapses

Such measures are not without consequences for the Chinese economy. According to “CNBC”, for example, Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, expects smartphone sales in China to fall by 20 percent in the second quarter compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Neil Shah, a partner at Counterpoint Research, also sees black for the world’s largest smartphone market. In his opinion, sales in April and May 2022 will fall by 12 to 13 percent. In June, there could possibly only be a drop in sales of three to four percent compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, because on the one hand there is a big shopping event this month and on the other hand the pandemic could then subside. However, if the situation on the COVID front still does not improve by then, the Chinese smartphone market could collapse again by up to twelve percent, according to Neil Shah.

Meanwhile, Will Wong, research manager at IDC, expects the smartphone market to decline by 3.4 percent in the second quarter compared to the same quarter last year. He pointed out that the cause of the decline has less to do with supply chains and more to do with weakening consumer demand and sentiment.

Apple little burden

According to Wong, the momentum is weakening, especially for devices equipped with Google’s Android operating system. Mawston added that there is fierce price competition in China in the shrinking Android segment.

Apparently, the prospects are rosier for iPhone maker Apple. For example, Shah only expects a decline of around four to five percent in the second quarter for Apple devices. Wong and Shah are more optimistic about the US group than about the industry as a whole and believe that it could benefit from the current weakness of competitor Huawei in the premium sector. Therefore, Wong even thinks positive growth is possible in the second quarter, while Mawston assumes that Apple can expand its market share in China in 2022.

Editorial office finanzen.net

Image Sources: Brendan Howard / Shutterstock.com, Apple