Apple’s iPhone sales drop 24% in China as Huawei gains popularity

Apple’s According to research firm Counterpoint, iPhone sales in China fell 24% year-on-year in the first six weeks of 2024, as the US company faced increased competition from domestic rivals such as Huawei.

According to the report, the US tech giant’s top rival in premium smartphones in China, Huawei, saw a 64 percent increase in unit sales in the period.

This could raise fears of a slowdown in demand for the US company, whose revenue forecast for the current quarter was $6 billion (about Rs 49,740 crore) short of Wall Street expectations.

Shares of iPhone The maker closed down 2.8 percent on Tuesday and has lost about 12 percent of its value so far this year, underperforming its big tech peers in the United States.

Apple’s share of the Chinese smartphone market fell to 15.7 percent, placing it in fourth place, compared to 19 percent in the year-ago period, Counterpoint reported.

Huawei moved into second place as its market share rose to 16.5 percent from 9.4 percent a year ago. The report said that the overall smartphone market in China shrank by 7 percent.

Apple “faces fierce competition at the high end from a resurgent Huawei while being squeezed in the middle by the likes of aggressive pricing.” OppoVivo and Xiaomi,” said Meng Meng Zhang, senior analyst at Counterpoint.

Apple last week began subsidizing some iPhone models by CNY 1,300 ($180.68) through flagship stores on Alibaba’s major marketplace platform Tmall.

It already offered up to CNY 500 off on the iPhone on its official sites last month.

Huawei has seen a rebound in sales of its premium smartphone since releasing its Mate 60 series in August after the company struggled for years with US restrictions on exports of key components.

Honor, the smartphone brand that split from Huawei in 2020, was the only other top-five brand to see a 2 percent increase in unit sales during the first six weeks of the year. Chinese brands VivoXiaomi and Oppo fell by 15 percent, 7 percent and 29 percent respectively.

© Thomson Reuters 2024

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