iPhone sales in China fell by 30 percent, the continuation of the negative trend is likely in 2024.
The phones of the latest Apple device series experienced an unusually slow start in China, and this was then reflected in the overall negative trend for the American company in this country. Namely, iPhone sales in China fell by as much as 30 percent on an annual basis, and analysts expect the downward trend to continue in 2024.
The rest of the mobile device market in this Asian country grew in December, and in contrast to Apple, Huawei recorded impressive growth thanks to its Mate 60 phone line, which proved to be very successful in the domestic market. The analysis of the current state of the market and forecasts for the future were prepared by Jefferies analysts led by Edison Li, writes Bloomberg.
The launch of the iPhone 15 series took place just two weeks after the surprise launch of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro phone. Huawei's flagship phone features a new processor made in China, and patriotism was responsible for people switching to the company's phones, analysts say.
Thus, the Chinese technology giant managed to regain some of the customers it had previously lost to Apple. Jefferies estimates that Huawei has shipped 35 million smartphones in 2023, with certain supply constraints preventing that number from going even higher.
HuaweiIn December last year, the American company recorded a double-digit decline in sales volume, and analysts predict that a similar situation will continue this year, in 2024. Discounts on the Apple range of smartphones increased last week on various online shopping portals, thus reducing the average selling price, without stimulating the growth of its volume.
Apple got an increased share of sales in China after the US cut off Huawei from the world's leading chipmakers in 2020, such as one of the world's most successful factories, Taiwan's TSMC. The Shenzhen-based tech company's return to competitiveness in the mobile market has seen it slowly regain market share and is now developing its own software ecosystem to compete with the iOS and Android operating systems.
In addition, although the sanctions initially “pinned” Huawei in place, they forced it, after the time it used to practically gather itself, in cooperation with the Chinese authorities to develop domestic advanced production and design of chips on which all electronic devices depend, among which, of course, include phones.