China October smartphone shipment grows 30.6% from a year ago

epa03241615 Commuters use smartphones while riding a subway train in Hong Kong, China, 30 May, 2012. An online poll of 1,532 people showed that nearly 95 percent of the respondents experience severe neck and back problems for spending too much time hunched over their gadgets such as iPads, iPhones and other tablets. The Hong Kong Multisports Association, which conducted the survey from April 23 to May 6, said one out of three use their devices for more than four hours a day while 57percent do the same on their computers. According to the poll, one of the main reasons for the growing incidence of chronic back and neck pains is people using their devices for long periods and maintaining a wrong posture, including keeping their heads down. EPA/JEROME FAVRE (Newscom TagID: epaphotos422092.jpg) [Photo via Newscom]

According to the China Academy of Information and Communications (CAICT), China’s shipment of smartphones grew 30.6% year-on-year to 32.7 million handsets in October. This is a significant increase from a year ago, in October 2020, when shipments reached 25 million.

An increase in shipment, compared to the decline experienced in the first half of the year, is largely driven by the release of the latest Apple iPhone 13 in China in September.

When iPhone preorders were first released in September, demand was so high that Chinese retail websites reportedly went down. During the initial phase, as many as 5 million preorders were placed, signaling Apple’s continued popularity in the country.