Smartphone shipments in China dropped by four per cent year-on-year in the Q1 2015, marking the first time the Chinese market has declined in six years and signalling that the rapid growth that has occurred there may be maturing.

According to the IDCs latest Mobile Phone Tracker report, sales were down to 98.8m units in the first quarter of 2015, representing an eight per cent drop quarter-on-quarter due to a large inventory buildup at the end of 2014.

The release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus saw Apple retake the number one position in manufacturer popularity, accounting for 14.7 per cent of all sales. Homegrown brand Xiaomi slipped to second place, but was close behind Apple with a 13.7 per cent market share.

The IDC report predicts China will see relatively flat growth during 2015, with existing manufacturers creating younger sub-brands to chip away at Xiaomis user base, more high tier competition and Chinese brands expanding into overseas markets to make up for slowing growth at home.

“Smartphones are becoming increasingly saturated in China,” said Kitty Fok, managing director of IDC China. “China is oftentimes thought of as an emerging marker but the reality is that the vast majority of phones sold in China today are smartphones, similar to other mature markets like the US, UK, Australia and Japan.

“Just like these markets, convincing existing users as well as feature phone users to upgrade to new smartphones will now be the key to further growth in the China market.”