After four consecutive months, iPhone sales in China have decreased, reflecting a significant downturn for all foreign smartphone brands.
Recent official statistics indicate that shipments of foreign-branded mobile devices dropped by 47% compared to the previous year, prompting Apple to make the unusual move of lowering prices on its current iPhone models in the region.
iPhone sales in China
iPhone sales in the Chinese market have faced increasing challenges in recent years due to both governmental encouragement for consumers to purchase domestic brands and the unexpected resurgence of Huawei as a strong contender in the premium smartphone segment.
The push for Chinese citizens to support local brands has intensified over the years, starting from the trade tensions with the US back in 2019.
According to a local report, using an iPhone has become a source of embarrassment for some consumers. The combined effects of the Trump administration’s trade policies and the export restrictions on Huawei are fueling the ‘Boycott Apple’ campaign within the country.
For a period, Apple benefited from a ban on exporting 5G chips to China, which hindered Huawei’s ability to compete effectively with iPhones. Nevertheless, in 2023, Huawei managed to secure a supply of 5G chips, enabling it to re-enter the competitive landscape against Apple.
While Apple has generally hesitated to implement official price cuts, it has opted to discreetly reduce prices through third-party resellers, who then relay these savings to customers. However, the company began formally discounting iPhones in 2022 and has repeated this strategy on several occasions, with the latest promotion launching tomorrow.
Foreign smartphone sales continue to fall
This decline isn’t exclusive to Apple: new government data reported by Reuters indicates that sales of all non-Chinese smartphone brands continue to drop.
According to data released on Friday from a government-supported research organization, shipments of foreign-branded smartphones, including Apple’s iPhone, plummeted by 47.4% in November compared to the same month last year, marking the fourth month of decline […]
This decline follows October’s year-on-year decrease of 44.25% in foreign smartphone shipments, continuing the downward trend in the globe’s largest smartphone market.
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