China’s smartphone market has continued to decline since 2020 as macroeconomic headwinds weakened consumer sentiment, accumulating inventory.
This coupled with intensifying competition in the domestic market is forcing Chinese OEMs to innovate and expand abroad to sustain growth.
LATAM, with its high growth potential and price-sensitive consumer base, is a suitable market for Chinese smartphone OEMs to realize their overseas expansion ambitions.

China is still one of the largest and most competitive smartphone markets in the world. In recent years, Chinese smartphone OEMs such as Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo have come under increasing pressure in the domestic market due to competition, saturation, and macroeconomic headwinds.

The Chinese smartphone market fell sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic and has continued to decline since then, thanks to weak consumer sentiment and inventory accumulation. The market is projected to show some YoY growth in 2024 but that will be more due to the base effect. Economic uncertainty and unfavorable external environment will prevent any significant momentum from developing.

This slow recovery and intensifying competition in the Chinese market amid weak growth engines are forcing Chinese OEMs to innovate and expand beyond China to sustain growth. In particular, challenges from Huawei, which has overcome US sanctions and has been rebounding in the domestic market since last year, have prompted major Chinese OEMs to increasingly seek out new revenue streams, with Latin America emerging as a major focus area.

Access full 4-pager report here.

If you are not a client, reach out to us at info@counterpointresearch.com

Author