BEIJING - China's smartphone shipments continued to drop in the first quarter of this year, industrial data showed Monday.

Domestic smartphone shipments reached about 81.87 million in the first three months of 2018, down by 27 percent year on year, according to a report by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

Smartphone shipments fell by 28.6 percent year on year last month.

China's mobile phone shipments started to fall about one year ago, with last December registering the biggest monthly year-on-year drop of 33.2 percent.

Analysts said that the Chinese smartphone market is expected to see a restructuring as smartphone consumption slows down, with almost all Chinese people owning at least one mobile phone.

Facing fierce market competition, domestic players like Xiaomi and Huawei started to bet on artificial intelligence, dual cameras and other trendy functions to woo customers.