(Telecompaper) The global smartphone market declined 2.9 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018 due above all to a slowdown in China, according to latest figures from IDC. Vendors shipped a total of 334.3 million units in the first three months of 2018 compared to 344.3 million units a year earlier, with volumes in China dipping below 100 million for the first time since the third quarter of 2013, attributed by IDC to the lack of new smartphone converts. The researcher said consumers appear to be unwilling to shell out big money for increasingly expensive handsets that bring minimal upgrades over their current device.