SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s smartphone shipments nearly doubled in January 2021 against a year ago, government data released Tuesday showed, reversing a decline caused by a coronavirus at the start of last year.
Loads of smartphones within China jumped 94.3% annually to 39.6 million handsets in January, according to the China Academy of Information and Communication (CAICT), a state-backed think tank.
That was up from 20.4 million in January 2020 and higher than the 32.1 million in January 2019, suggesting that China’s smartphone segment has returned to its pre-pandemic levels.
Supply chain problems and consumer spending have killed China’s smartphone sector as COVID-19 unleashed in 2020, but the sector has since bounced back along with a broader economy.
Analysts expect sales in China to recover largely in 2021, but expect U.S. sanctions on Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the country’s former major retailer, to be lifted. stressing the total loads of smartphones.
Huawei’s shipments to China fell 44% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of last year, according to data from research firm Canalys.
Apple Inc has been a major beneficiary of Huawei’s shortage so far, with its sales in China converging with the release of their latest iPhone 12 series.
Xiaomi Corp’s Android competitors have also seen sales, but analysts say they need to ramp up production to counter a drop in Huawei’s production of high-end models.
Reciting with Josh Horwitz; Edited by Ana Nicolaci da Costa