China's Once Booming Smartphone Sales Barely Grew in 2015: Chart
A visitor takes a selfie photograph with paramilitary police officers using a smartphone on a monopod following the daily national flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, on Thursday, March 3, 2016.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
At the start of the decade, sales of smartphones doubled in China, and soared even more the following year. But that turned out to be peak growth for a market where expansion ground to a near halt in 2015. Smartphones are no longer novelties in China, and most domestic brands target the mid- and low-price ranges, where buyers don’t upgrade as frequently as those for high-end Apple and Samsung Electronics Co. phones.