On January 25, third-party research firm Strategy Analytics revealed that in the fourth quarter of 2018, China's smartphone shipments fell 11% year-on-year to 108 million units. The agency said that Huawei has become a clear market leader, while Apple and Xiaomi have lost momentum.

From the perspective of the whole year, smartphone shipments in the year of 2018 also fell by 11% year-on-year to 408.5 million.

Wu Yiwen, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics, said that the Chinese smartphone market is in a recession and has experienced five consecutive quarters of decline. The smartphone market is experiencing longer replacement cycles and weaker consumer spending. The past year has been very difficult and the smartphone industry will want to forget this.

From a single vendor perspective, in the fourth quarter, Huawei shipped 30 million smartphones in China, accounting for 28% of China's market share, up 23% year-on-year. The agency believes that Huawei has become a clear market leader, with product portfolios, well-known brands and retail channels being the main success factors.

OPPO's share is 20.8%, ranking second. Its shipments fell by 2% year-on-year, but the growth rate is still above average. Huawei is putting pressure on OPPO in mid- and offline retail channels in major cities such as Shanghai, and OPPO is trying to counterattack by targeting more online channels through improved models such as the K-series.

In addition, vivo ranked third with a market share of 20.6% and a growth rate of 8%, second only to Huawei. Vivo has achieved online growth through the Z-Series and is launching more high-end models of the NEX series. The agency believes that vivo is differentiated through technological innovation.

For Apple, the fourth quarter exceeded Xiaomi, with a market share of 10%, but iPhone shipments fell 22% year-on-year, which is the worst performance of the company since the beginning of 2017. In the past 12 quarters, the Apple iPhone has dropped by eight quarters.

The agency said that in the past three years, Apple has been under pressure in China. The ongoing patent battle with Qualcomm is distracting, and Apple is criticized for its expensive retail price. Outside of China, Apple is also facing the crisis of iPhone pricing.

As for Xiaomi, the market share was 9%, which fell to the fifth place. The strong growth of Xiaomi in the domestic market has stopped, down 35% year-on-year. Xiaomi suffered from a backlog of inventory and faced fierce competition from rivals Huawei and vivo.

In addition, the top five brands account for 90% of all smartphone shipments in China. Smaller mobile phone manufacturers other than the top five, such as Meizu, are struggling to catch up, but their profits are also decreasing.