Customers learn about the newly launched iPhone15 at an Apple store in Yantai, East China’s Shandong province, Sept 28, 2023.
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Sales of Apple’s iPhone plunged in China in the first six weeks of 2024, according to a Counterpoint Research report.
The analyst firm said in a note on Tuesday that iPhone sales plunged 24% in the period, as Apple faced stiff competition from local smartphone firms like Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi.
In particular, Apple came under major pressure from Chinese tech giant Huawei, whose consumer business is experiencing a resurgence in China after the launch of its Mate 60 smartphone.
Several rival Chinese smartphone companies also logged drops in their unit sales in the six-week period, but the declines were less pronounced than that of Apple. Oppo’s smartphone shipments dropped 29% year-on-year, while Vivo and Xiaomi logged drops of 15% and 7%, respectively, according to Counterpoint Research.
The best-performing smartphone brands for the first six weeks were Huawei and its spinoff Honor, which branched out of the tech giant in 2020 as a result of U.S. sanctions.
Huawei smartphone unit shipments rose 64% year-over-year in the first six weeks of 2024, according to Counterpoint Research. Shipments of Honor handsets, meanwhile, added 2%.
Apple is facing a tough environment in its key market, China. Several notable trends are adding pressure, not least of which is intense competition from local Chinese smartphone makers — including a resurging Huawei.
Last year, Huawei launched a smartphone called the Mate 60, which had 5G connectivity. That was a major surprise to the world, as the U.S. government hit Huawei with numerous sanctions in 2019 and 2020, cutting it off from key chips and technology required for 5G mobile internet.
Once the world’s largest smartphone player by sale volumes, Huawei was really the only major challenger to Apple in China when it came to high-end devices. Customers flocked to iPhones,…
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