April Smartphone Imports Fell 21.3%; Chinese Shipments Recovered to Pre-COVID Levels

U.S. importers sourced 11.93 million smartphones from all countries in April, according to Census Bureau data accessed Wednesday through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. That was a 4.9% increase from March but a 21.3% decline from April 2019. Shipments from China, the world’s largest smartphone producer, were 9.06 million handsets in April, up 26.6% from March, but down 20.7% from the same 2019 month. China was 76% of all April smartphone imports to the U.S., compared with 62.9% in March and 75.4% a year earlier. Two months earlier, COVID-19 factory shutdowns sent February Chinese smartphone imports tumbling to their lowest monthly volume since customs began tracking the smartphone category in 2007 (see 2004060042).