Smartphone shipment in China shrunk 22 per cent in the first 10 months of 2022, as the market has been hit by cooling consumer demand and supply chain disruption.

Suppliers shipped 214.5 million smartphones within China from January to October this year, down from 275.3 million units in the same period last year, data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology showed.

In October, the latest data showed that the shipment volume in October decreased 27.2 per cent year on year to 23.8 million units. However, in term of month-on-month growth, the figure is up 20% from 19.8 million units in September.

The global smartphone market as a whole is experiencing a slowdown, logging a 9.7% decline in the third quarter due to a mix of challenges including a COVID-struck economy, inflation and deceleration following years of frantic growth

China cannot get away with the broad trend that lack of demand, rising costs, and inflation impacted consumers with lesser disposable incomes.

Technology and consulting services firm International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts the decline in Chinese smartphone shipments will narrow in 2023, but “the gloomy circumstances and clouded outlook of the COVID policy in China are adding more uncertainties to the next year’s market outlook,” said Will Wong, Senior Research Manager for Client Devices at IDC Asia Pacific.

Slowing consumer demand has prompted major smartphone vendors such as Xiaomi Corp to start a new round of layoffs involving nearly 10 per cent of its workforce, after cutting more than 900 jobs earlier this year.

Xiaomi in November reported a 9.7% fall in third-quarter revenue, hit by China's COVID-19 restrictions and softening consumer demand. Revenue from smartphones, which generate roughly 60% of its total sales, fell 11% year-on-year.