iPhone sales drop in China's annual Singles Day sales

Figures for November 11's Singles Day in China show that sales of the iPhone dropped 4% year over year — while Huawei smartphones grew 66% in the same period.

Apple has often done well on Singles Day — also known as Double 11 because of the 11/11 date — and according to Reuters, retailer JD.com reported selling $1.39 billion of Apple products in this year's event.

The sales data plus both Apple's percentage drop and Huawei's percentage increase were reported to Reuters by Counterpoint Research. Percentage comparisons are not especially useful without the full figures and JD.com did not break down its figures into even what were iPhones or other Apple devices.

Plus China's other main retailers have ceased reporting Singles Day sales figures, so it's not possible to compare this year and previous ones.

However, as well as Apple's iPhone having a 4% drop and Huawei seeing a 66% increase, Xiaomi also grew 28% year over year. So Chinese brands are at the very least ascending in the country, and it appears their sales are taking market share from Apple.

Xiaomi has reported that it sold $3.14 billion of what it described to Reuters as cumulative gross merchandise value. Neither Huawei nor Apple have commented.

Separately, Counterpoint Research has also reported that the iPhone 15 has helped global smartphone sales break their 27-month series of declines.

14 Comments

Kierkegaarden 2 Years · 244 comments

About 1 year ago

So this wasn’t an “iPhone” sales decrease, but rather a decrease throughout all products? Was this also true for the other companies listed, and what was the increase from? For example, if 66% is an increase from $1000, the number doesn’t seem as exciting. Also, what did these increases cost? If they slashed prices by 50%, they need 2x or more extra volume to maintain profit levels. Reports like this are garbage because they only focus on a small less important part of the story.

2 Likes · 0 Dislikes

gatorguy 14 Years · 24652 comments

About 1 year ago

Kierkegaarden said:

So this wasn’t an “iPhone” sales decrease, but rather a decrease throughout all products? Was this also true for the other companies listed, and what was the increase from? For example, if 66% is an increase from $1000, the number doesn’t seem as exciting. Also, what did these increases cost? If they slashed prices by 50%, they need 2x or more extra volume to maintain profit levels. Reports like this are garbage because they only focus on a small less important part of the story.

https://www.reuters.com/video/watch/idsIgG?now=true

Kierkegaarden 2 Years · 244 comments

About 1 year ago

gatorguy said:

Kierkegaarden said:

So this wasn’t an “iPhone” sales decrease, but rather a decrease throughout all products? Was this also true for the other companies listed, and what was the increase from? For example, if 66% is an increase from $1000, the number doesn’t seem as exciting. Also, what did these increases cost? If they slashed prices by 50%, they need 2x or more extra volume to maintain profit levels. Reports like this are garbage because they only focus on a small less important part of the story.

https://www.reuters.com/video/watch/idsIgG?now=true

This doesn’t clarify anything — a third party research company (based in Hong Kong) is claiming yoy increases or decreases based on what exactly? And discounting wasn’t discussed, which could have an impact on revenue. The numbers don’t make sense because they’re not comparing the same things and they’re still just guessing in the end.

2 Likes · 0 Dislikes

chasm 11 Years · 3659 comments

About 1 year ago

Kierkegaarden said:

This doesn’t clarify anything — a third party research company (based in Hong Kong) is claiming yoy increases or decreases based on what exactly? And discounting wasn’t discussed, which could have an impact on revenue. The numbers don’t make sense because they’re not comparing the same things and they’re still just guessing in the end.

I'm sorry you were unable to understand the story. This is about a particular social event/holiday in China where smartphones are traditionally sold as gifts. In previous years, the retailers told analysts like Counterpoint Research that Apple was the dominant brand customers wanted.

This year, according to that same system, it appears that Chinese-made brands have swung back into fashion among buyers. Why that happened isn't explained or theorized, it's just a report of which brands were most in demand based on retailer reports. There are lots of possible theories about why this happened, but that's not really covered in the story -- just reports of higher demand this time around from Chinese-made iPhone knockoffs rather than actual iPhones.

Apple sold a billion dollars' worth of iPhones during the period before the big day. Xiaomi says they sold $3 billion, but that's cumulative across all their products. The point of this article is not to say "Apple is doomed (in China)," it's an observation of changing trends in consumer buying of smartphones there. That's literally it.