Smartphones in China unit sales declined 7% YoY in the first six weeks of 2024, with Apple, OPPO, and Vivo all seeing double-digit declines, according to Counterpoint Research’s latest China Smartphones Weekly Sell-through Tracker.
According to Counterpoint Research, Apple’s iPhone sales in China fell by 24% in the first six weeks of 2024.
In the first few weeks of the year, Apple’s iPhone struggled for a variety of reasons. In addition, it faced stiff competition at the high end from a resurgent Huawei, while being squeezed in the middle by aggressive pricing from companies such as OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi, according to Senior Analyst Mengmeng Zhang. Consumers feel comfortable holding onto their older-generation iPhones for the time being, even though the iPhone 15 has no significant upgrade from the previous version.
In China, the iPhone has lost its status as the best-selling smartphone for the first time since 2023 due to the drop in sales.
According to Counterpoint, Apple held 19% of the market share in China in 2023, down to 15.7% today.
In Counterpoint Research’s China Smartphone Weekly Sell-through Tracker, Vivo is now the top-selling smartphone maker in China, according to Bloomberg.
Huawei, Honor, and Apple round out the top four. Honor split from Huawei in 2020.
“The iPhone faced stiff competition at the high end from a resurgent Huawei, while in the middle, it was squeezed by aggressive pricing from the likes of OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi,” Mengmeng Zhang, a senior analyst at Counterpoint, said.
According to Counterpoint, smartphone sales in China are down 7% year over year. It is the latest of Apple’s woes in China to see its sales decline.
Chinese chipmakers announced plans to build chip production lines to supply processors to local smartphone makers in January. Apple, which has so far benefited from tight export controls, may also be hit by a slowdown in general consumption and a shift towards supporting Chinese companies.
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