A sign that the global economy is slowing down is clearly reflected when consumers stop purchasing new smartphones, an essential tool for mostly any digital activity in the modern world.
China the largest producer of smartphones has reported that its shipments dropped 29.2 percent year on year to about 69.35 million units in the first quarter of this year. This data was released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the government agency that monitors such information.
Shipments of 5G mobile phones amounted to 53.88 million units during the period, a drop of 22.9 percent, said the CAICT, further highlighting the slowdown in 5G adoption and the need for 5G devices.
However, 5G phones continued to dominate China’s smartphone market in the first three months, accounting for 77.7 percent of all phone shipments. In March alone, China shipped a total of 21.46 million phones, down 40.5 percent from the same period of last year, the report said.
Overall data showed that China shipped 266 million 5G phones in 2021 accounting for 63.5 percent of total phones shipped from 2020
