Global Media Intelligence 2020: China

Key Features

PCs and laptops are falling out of favor in some cohorts, as smartphones cement their dominant role in media consumption.

• In H1 2020, 94.0% of internet users ages 16 to 64 in China polled by GlobalWebIndex owned a smartphone, and a mere 3.3% owned a feature phone. Smartphones were marginally more widespread among younger respondents.
• The centrality of smartphones in China is such that many internet users may find a desktop or laptop to be superfluous. PC penetration plunged by nearly 12 percentage points between H1 2019 and H1 2020, from 61.6% to 50.4%—one of the largest shifts in device ownership found in any country surveyed. Tablet penetration also fell sharply year over year (YoY) from 37.5% to 30.5%, with ownership skewing higher among urban residents, affluents, and adults ages 25 to 34. However, it’s worth noting that ownership of all devices apparently declined, per GlobalWebIndex.
• The average time spent daily with mobile devices was 3 hours, 10 minutes (3:10) in 2020—a marginal decline YoY. But total time spent with PCs and tablets fell from 2:47 to 2:20 daily.