Mobile phone shipments in China fell 22% in 2014: report

The number of phones shipped in China fell 21.9 percent in 2014 from the previous year, according to the Chinese Academy of Information and Communication (CAICT). 452 million mobile phones – including both feature phones and smartphones – were shipped to domestic retailers last year, compared to 579 million in 2013.

Note that this study only measures new shipments, so China’s mobile subscriber base is still growing on the whole, but now at a slower clip.

Here’s a few key stats:

• 2G-connected feature phone shipments fell 64.4 percent, from 170 million to 60.5 million.
• 3G phone shipments also fell 46 percent from 408 million to 220 million, likely due to the entrance of 4G smartphones to the market.
• 4G smartphone shipments rose from almost nil to 171 million since China’s first commercial 4G networks were flipped on in late December 2013.
• Overall smartphone shipments fell 8.2 percent to 389 million, indicating the market is approaching a saturation point. Smartphones now make up 86 percent market share among all new mobile phone shipments in China.
• Android smartphone shipments amounted to 349 million, making up almost 90 percent of all new smartphones shipped in China.

An earlier report from Emarketer says China has 519.7 million active smartphone users, and that figure will rise to 574.2 million this year. By 2018, half of the country’s population will own a smartphone – over 700 million people in total.

(h/t Techweb)

See: China’s smartphone shipments fall for first quarter in over two years: IDC