The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) has released its latest report on mobile phone shipments in China, covering April as well as the first four months of 2026. Here are the details.
Apple likely to benefit from market-wide recovery
As spotted by Reuters, the CAICT has released updated numbers on phone shipments in the Chinese market.
The report compares year-over-year performance for the month of April, as well as the January through April period.
According to the CAICT, phone shipments in China reached 25.7 million units in April, a 2.8% increase year-over-year. Domestic brands saw the bulk of that, with 22.1 million shipped units (86.1% of total shipments), up 2.9% from April 2025, leaving just 3.59 million shipped units from foreign brands.
As Reuters pointed out, this means that “foreign-branded mobile phones in China for April, including Apple’s iPhones, were up 1.8% from the same month last year.”
When it comes to smartphones specifically, the report notes that shipments reached 25 million units in April, up 12.3% year-over-year, and 97.3% of total phone shipments.
Looking at the January through April period, China’s domestic phone market reached 86.5 million shipped units, down 8.6% year over year.
Smartphones saw a 5.5% year-over-year drop to 82 million units, and 94.8% of total shipped phones.
CAICT’s report also notes that the number of new models also declined, with 138 new mobile phone models between January and April, down 15.3% from a year earlier, 115 of which (or, 83.3%) were smartphones, down 0.9% year-over-year.
9to5Mac’s take
Today’s report largely aligns with what other sources, including Counterpoint Research, have been saying about the broader smartphone market amid growing pricing pressure caused by memory shortages across the industry.
Over the past few months, multiple analysts have noted that lower-end phones are more exposed to that pressure, since they typically carry thinner margins than mid-range and high-end smartphones. Samsung, for instance, has had to raise prices on several models, while Apple has so far kept iPhone prices unchanged.
That could help explain the demand slowdown seen across the January through April period in China.
That said, it is interesting to see demand pick up again in April. When it comes to Apple specifically, in the quarter ended March 28, the company reported a 28% year-over-year increase in Greater China revenue, following a 38% increase in Q1 2026, as iPhone sales in the region continued to recover.
Because the CAICT’s report doesn’t break shipments down beyond overall and domestic brand shipments, it will remain to be seen how the April uptick will reflect on iPhone sales performances.
But if Apple managed to hold its own even during the broader Q1 slump, China could once again be among the bright spots in the company’s Q3 2026 earnings report, which is likely to be released in late July or early August.
You can read the CAICT’s full report here.
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