Apple is surging in smartphone sales across China and Lenovo is dropping, according to new statistics from research firm IDC.
Overall, year-over-year sales in China fell for the first time in six years, IDC reported Monday.
Research firm Digitimes in Taiwan first reported in early April that Lenovo’s sales had plummeted.
While Apple increased its China business by more than 60 percent to topple China-based Xiaomi from the top spot, Lenovo fell to fifth place from second in the first quarter of 2014. Huawei is third and Samsung, which was No. 1 for the quarter last year, is fourth.
Lenovo phone shipments fell to 8.2 million from 10.5 million in the first quarter compared to one year ago. Its market share fell to 8.3 percent from 10.2 percent.
The decline in sales is a sign of saturation in China, IDC said.
“Smartphones are becoming increasingly saturated in China,” explained Kitty Fok, Managing Director at IDC China, in the report. “China is oftentimes thought of as an emerging market but the reality is that the vast majority of phones sold in China today are smartphones, similar to other mature markets like the US, UK, Australia, and Japan. Just like these markets, convincing existing users as well as feature phone users to upgrade to new smartphones will now be the key to further growth in the China market.”
Apple has made China a key target in its growth strategy, and IDC reported consumers have a “strong appetite for the larger screens on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.”
Lenovo has led sales in China in quarterly sales within the past year, IDC noted, which is an indication of the market’s “volatility.”
Lenovo could get a boost from Motorola, which Lenovo acquired last year from Google. Motorola is being reintroduced in China.
The top 5 in first quarter market share:
1. Apple, 14.7%
2. Xiaomi, 13.7%
3. Huawei, 11.4%
4. Samsung, 9.7%
5. Lenovo, 8.3%
Lenovo operates its corporate executive headquarters in Morrisville.
