China's smartphone market continues recovery

As China's smartphone market continues its recovery trend, local players are stepping up their push to unveil new products to attract consumers.

The Chinese smartphone brand iQOO, for instance, unveiled the middle-range smartphone Z9 series to target consumers who love playing games and have large batteries. Priced from 1,199 yuan ($165)in China, the Z9 series represents the brand's persistence in developing the best game-playing smartphones, said Luo Feng, vice president of products at iQOO.

China's smartphone market saw shipments reach about 69.26 million units, an increase of 6.5 percent in the first quarter of 2024 every year, according to the latest report by market consultancy IDC.

IDC said the continued recovery of market demand helped the Chinese smartphone market to maintain the rebound momentum at the end of last year, and the market performance was higher than expected.

Among them, the Android market grew by 9.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024, while the iOS market faced greater competitive pressure, which fell by 6.6 percent during the same period. Thanks to the application of AI large language models and foldable screens, Android smartphones have gained differentiated advantages amid the competition with iPhones in the high-end market.

In addition, the demand during the Spring Festival holiday also boosted the low-end market with sharper growth, IDC said.