Malcolm Owen
A drop in foreign-branded smartphone sales in China continues to hit the iPhone, with the year-on-year dip continuing for the fourth month in a row.
China is a major market for Apple, but the company has had trouble maintaining its position in recent years. A government-affiliated report now indicates the market is even tougher for Apple to compete in.
Data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) indicates that shipments of foreign-branded smartphones in China reached 3.04 million in November. Reuters reports this is a 47.4% drop from the 5.77 million units reported for November 2023.
The data also means that foreign-branded smartphones have seen year-on-year dips in sale for four months in a row. In October, the YoY drop was 44.25%.
The figures should be concerning for Apple, as the iPhone would count as a foreign-branded device for this report. However, this figure is not broken down by vendor, so it's not possible to determine exactly how much Apple's iPhone has been affected.
It does, however, offer a glimpse into consumer sentiment, in preferring domestic producers over foreign brands. Overall smartphone shipments in China, including domestic brands, fell 5.1% year-on-year to 29.61 million units.
It is plausible, though, that other foreign smartphone brands have seen a decline in the country, with Apple working to maintain its position.
In October, IDC said that Apple was the second most popular smartphone brand in China for Q3 2024, with a 15.6% market share dipping just 0.3% year-on-year.
That same month, it was determined that the iPhone 16 range had a better launch period in China than the iPhone 15 did. For the first three weeks of availability, the iPhone 16 was approximately 20% better than the iPhone 15's first three weeks.
Christine McKee
Charles Martin
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6 Comments
"That same month, it was determined that the iPhone 16 range had a better launch period in China than the iPhone 15 did. For the first three weeks of availability, the iPhone 16 was approximately 20% better than the iPhone 15's first three weeks."
The iPhone 15 series had to contend with the Huawei Mate 60 series from the outset.
The iPhone 16 series didn't have the same problem as the Mate 70 series wasn't released until November.
Various reports from the likes of IDC etc are now suggesting the increased competition is depressing iPhone 16 sales.
On top of that there are now reports claiming that Apple has extended its discounting to its own sales channels.
Discounting from third party resellers has been constant in China for a couple of generations now.
Blah blah blah the same report every year multiple times, And Samsung‘s presence in China is a big fat zero when it comes to smart phones.
Every single year the same report that Vhina sales are down. Going on 10 years now. OMG enough already. Media people this headline is soo played. Please find some other clickbait