The first quarter of 2026 has just ended, and China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has released numbers that make you say "wow."

The electronic information industry sector grew by 13.6% year-on-year. That sounds impressive. But the full scale of this achievement only becomes clear in comparison.

Because China's entire industrial output grew by just 6.1%.

The gap is massive — 7.5 percentage points. Electronics has literally left the rest of industry in the dust.

But that's not all. Even the high-tech manufacturing sector — usually considered the main driver — is trailing behind by 1.1 percentage points. Electronics has overtaken the "elite league" as well.

Now, here are the numbers that take your breath away.

298 million smartphones produced in three months. Nearly 300 million devices. Spread evenly — that's over 3 million phones every single day.

4.31 trillion yuan in operating revenue. In US dollars — approximately $631 billion. Growth: 14.8%.

Exports rose by 4.2%. Fixed asset investment accelerated: up 5.4% year-on-year — which is 4.2% higher than the growth rate recorded in January-February.

What does all this mean?

China's electronics industry isn't just growing. It's growing faster than anyone around it. And the gap is widening. It feels like it's competing only against itself — because the rest simply can't keep up.

The first quarter of 2026 has shown that the locomotive isn't slowing down. And 298 million smartphones are just the beginning.