iPhone sales in China fall by 24%

Apple is quite strong and stable in the US market. However, things are quite different in China than the US. Reportedly, the sales of Apple declined by 24% in China, the world’s largest smartphone market. A recent report by Counterpoint asserts that iPhone sales dropped by 24% within the first six weeks of this year. During this time, the overall Chinese mobile market also experienced a 7% decline. However, the local companies like OPPO and vivo survived the challenging market with their budget offerings.

Apple, on the other hand, put in all its efforts to boost sales. The company offered rare discounts on its online stores in January. Irrespective of these measures, the sales dropped from 19% to 16%. Apple’s partners are also seeing a fall in sales; during the first two months of 2024, Hon Hai Precision Industry, a partner in iPhone assembly, had a decline in sales of 18%.

In the meantime, the sales of Huawei were increased by 64% in the above-mentioned timeframe. the success of Huawei is attributed to the Mate 60 Pro devices. Reportedly, the company’s share increased from 9.4% to 16.5% in the Chinese market. In addition to this, Apple sales are perhaps impacted by domestic brands like OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi who offer competitive price gadgets in the mid-range segment.

“Although the iPhone 15 is a wonderful device, it has no major updates from the previous model, so customers feel fine keeping on to the older-generation iPhones for now,” notes Senior Analyst Mengmeng Zhang in the research. Besides this, there are several other reasons for not upgrading the iPhones.

Whether Apple’s troubles in China will affect the rest of the West is still to be seen. Positively, increased iPhone sales over the holiday quarter and a return to revenue growth were highlighted in Apple’s most recent earnings report.