Domestic smartphone sector cools

The growth momentum of the world's largest smartphone market has come to an end, with China's smartphone shipments suffering a 4 percent decline year-on-year in 2017, marking the country's first-ever annual decline in the field.

According to research firm Canalys, shipments dropped to 459 million handsets last year, a decline that they noted was "faster than expected". Experts said the fall was partly due to one of the country's worst year-on-year performances in the fourth quarter, with shipments plummeting by over 14 percent to fewer than 113 million smartphones.

"Also, the Chinese market is now driven by replacement users, most of whom have already upgraded their handsets," said Jia Mo, an analyst at Canalys.