Market research firm IDC recently published its mobile phone quarterly tracking report, stating that in the fourth quarter of 2018, China's smartphone market shipment was about 103 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 9.7%.

Huawei's smartphone shipment was on the top of the list and its market share reached 29% in the fourth quarter of 2018; Oppo and Vivo ranked the second and third with market share of 19.6% and 18.8%, respectively; Apple ranked the fourth with market share of 11.5%; and Xiaomi ranked the fifth with market share of 10.0%.

For the entire year of 2018, China's overall smartphone market shipment was 397 million units, a year-on-year decrease of over 10%, attributing to macroeconomic growth slowdown, lengthened consumer replacement cycle, and diversified smart terminals. In regards to the performance of the top five smartphone makers, Huawei and Vivo achieved contrarian growth, while Apple saw a decrease of 11.7%.

According to IDC China senior analyst Wang Xi, the overall environment of Chinese smartphone market is still not optimistic in 2019. However, based on the gains and losses in 2018, smartphone manufacturers could face new challenges from three aspects, including technology accumulation, product operation and user maintenance, so as to dig new opportunities.