Apple’s smartphone sales in the Chinese market have seen a 6% year-on-year decline in the weeks leading up to the release of the new iPhone 17 series, surpassing the normal level before the launch of a flagship product.
According to data from Counterpoint Research, Apple is not the only company experiencing sluggish summer sales, as other Chinese smartphone manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Vivo, and Honor have also witnessed a decline in sales in the first eight weeks of the third quarter. Despite the Chinese government’s subsidy measures to encourage consumption, the overall market in China contracted by 2% in July and August.
Apple holds a 12% market share in China, ranking sixth according to Counterpoint data.
The sales revenue of Apple’s Greater China region has risen from $14.7 billion in the second quarter of last year to $15.4 billion. In comparison, Apple’s sales revenue in the United States was $41.2 billion during the same period.
The story of Apple in the Chinese market remains a tug-of-war. On one hand, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that the company reversed the declining trend in China’s market sales for two consecutive years in the second quarter, partly due to the promotion of subsidy policies. He also emphasized that in the last quarter, iPhone usage in Greater China reached an all-time high, with strong growth in new users of Mac, iPad, and Apple Watch. On the other hand, Apple’s relatively sluggish sales this summer highlight the increasingly fierce competition in the mainland China market.
The iPhone 17 is set to be released globally on Friday, September 19, and it may be Apple’s most important hardware product in years, with its design innovation and camera system upgrade aimed at regaining growth momentum. Chinese domestic brand Xiaomi has decided to release its flagship product earlier this month, indicating the level of importance competitors attach to this product cycle.
Apple has not yet introduced the Apple Intelligence feature in China. However, so far, it seems that this has not affected people’s smartphone purchasing behavior. Analysts at Counterpoint stated that Chinese consumers still focus on basic functions such as battery life, storage space, and value for money.
So far, none of the major phone brands have seen AI features driving sales, indicating that Apple’s lack of AI functionality in China has not had an impact… Nevertheless, the overall Chinese smartphone market remains weak.
Counterpoint predicts a slight decline in sales in the Chinese market in the third quarter. There will be no significant changes this year, and there are no signs indicating that either the iPhone or other products can reverse this situation.