For the first time in six years, smartphone shipments in China have reportedly plunged by four percent to 98.8 million units in the first quarter of 2015.
American market researcher IDC said that this represented an eight percent fall compared to the previous quarter but added that it was partially caused by the large amounts of unsold inventory left over from the end of 2014, reported The Verge.
China had although been one of the main drivers of growth in the global smartphone market, but it seems like demand in the country has started to slow down. IDC China's managing director Kitty Fok said that China was now broadly comparable to nations such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
Fok said in a statement that convincing existing users as well as feature phone users to switch to new smartphones will now be the "key" to drive growth, adding that smartphones were becoming increasingly saturated in China.
Just like the U.S. in previous years, this has put Apple at a favourable position, with the firm emerging as China's top vendor in Q1 of 2015 by shipping 14.7 percent of new devices or 14.5 million units. IDC attributed the success to a continuing demand for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, but Apple's reputation in China as a luxury brand could also be a factor.