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China Dominant Smartphone Source in October, Shipments Down From Last Year

October imports of Chinese smartphones jumped 13 percent sequentially to 17.9 million, we calculated Monday using International Trade Commission’s DataWeb. They fell 11 percent from the 20.1 million in October 2018, when imports rose 22 percent from that September, in…

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line with historical holiday trends and when the threat of tariffs on Chinese smartphones wasn't in play. October smartphone imports from all countries classified under the 8517.12.00 tariff subheading jumped 13 percent from September to 22.6 million handsets. That's down 8.1 percent from the 24.5 million smartphones imported in October 2018. U.S. tariffs over intellectual property disputes with China that took effect Sept. 1 sent China’s share of October TV imports plunging, but no such China exodus was evident in smartphones. China was 79.5 percent of U.S. smartphone unit imports in October, vs. 82 percent in the same month a year earlier and 79.2 percent this September.