China’s smartphone shipment plummeted 11.5% YoY to 36.75 million handsets in September this year, data from China Academy of Information and Communications Technology shows. The dip continues a downward trend in the industry, which recorded a 17% drop in the first nine months of the year.

The first nine months of this year have recorded a consecutive two-digit decline in smartphone shipment as compared with the same period of 2017, with an exception of May, which witnessed a 1.2% jump, the report pointed out. This February was hit by a striking 38.7% YoY decline.

Local smartphone companies take a lion’s share in the market with 34.45 million handsets sold in September, representing 88.3% of the total shipments. Android phones are still dominating China, accounting for 89% of total smartphones shipped.

China’s smartphone industry is increasingly a battlefield for the incumbents. CAICT reports show that the combined shipment of the top-10 smartphone manufacturers accounts for a dominating 92% of the total shipments in the reporting period, an 8% just over the same period of last year.

Saturating market and rising average selling price of the devices are the major reasons for the decline, a local report says, citing IDC research analyst Anthony Scarsella. But he thinks customers are still willing to pay for quality devices even it’s for a higher price. This means there are still opportunities for companies that can come up with innovations either in the product or in marketing model.

Despite a sluggish domestic market, there’s a silver lining in the smartphone market while local smartphone makers are finding increasing presence in emergent markets. Southeastern markets, like India, have been a top priority for Chinese smartphone makers over the years. Meanwhile, they are also gaining momentums in Russia, middle east and Latin America.

Although Chinese companies are finding their way globally, they still playing catchup to the world’s top phone makers. Samsung and Apple topped the global smartphone shipment list in September with 27 million and 19.19 million and 18.28 million, data from research institute Sunrise Big Data shows.

Chinese smartphone makers took four out of the top-6 smartphone maker list where Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi and Vivo followed closely with 18.28 million, 11 million, 10.33 million and 10.28 million respectively.