China smartphone shipments fall 5.5% as 5G models gain share

China smartphone shipments fell 5.5% year-over-year in the first half of 2026 even as 5G handset shipments rose 1.7%, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT). The shift came as Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi cut lower-end models amid higher memory and other upstream component costs, pushing 5G devices to 92% of total shipments.