According to a new analytical report published today, the growth story of the world's largest smartphone market, China, came to an end as it suffered its first-ever annual decline, with shipments down by 4% from 2016 to 459 million units in 2017. This drop was partly due to China having one of its worst year-on-year performances in Q4 2017, with shipments plummeting by over 14% to just under 113 million units.

Huawei grew shipments by 9% against the overall market decline, shipping more than 24 million smartphones and staying on top. Shipments fell for both Oppo and Vivo, by 16% and 7% respectively, but they held onto their respective second- and third-place positions. Oppo shipped 19 million smartphones, while Vivo shipped 17 million. Apple overtook Xiaomi to take fourth place, pushing Xiaomi back to fifth with 13 million units.

Huawei had its best ever quarter in its home market, shipping more than 24 million smartphones in Q4, to reach a total of 90 million in 2017. "Huawei's push into tier-three and tier-four cities has yielded positive results," said Canalys Research Analyst Mo Jia.

Canalys Research Analyst Hattie He stated in the report that "The declining Chinese market will have a detrimental impact on those Chinese vendors that have been heavily relying on their home market. It will affect their cashflow and profitability, limiting overseas expansion and bringing into question future survival.

Last week we reported that the U.S. Government is attempting to stop Huawei from entering the U.S. market via AT& T. Without access to the U.S. market, Huawei will be limited in how it could grow sales.

Apple moving up in the ranks would suggest that Apple's sales in China have grown and not fallen. Apple reports their financial results for Q1 2018 (fiscal Q4 2017) on February first.

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