Apple Falls to Third Place in China's Smartphone Market Amid Sales Decline

[I7guy]

I don't know what you can do to make a phone exciting, to me they are all boring rectangles with good cameras.

Yeah. An iPhone isnt exciting but that doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable to use. My car goes from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds and that’s not exciting anymore either. To me exciting is the wrong word, but you use any word you want.

But I don’t find my iPhone boring to use, given that I find it’s a joy to use.

 

[9081094]

iPhone 14-15-16 series are too similar, and you can’t beat China prices, they are making even better phones for almost half of the price

There are much more capable phones their with all the AI things Apple can only dream of. When you only visit an Apple Store people don’t know what’s capable today. iPhone is dated even in Europe it starts showing cracks.

 

[vantelimus]

This is what happens when you don't include basics like WiF-7 and focus on gimmicks like a camera TouchBar.

WiFi-7 isn't going to make any difference for a few years yet. WiFi 6e is capable of higher speeds than available to the vast majority of houses. Businesses aren't rushing to buy new routers. No phones will be implementing MIMO 8x8 because running 8 transmitters would drain your battery twice as fast, so you aren't ever going to get the theoretical max.

Most consumers don't care about chasing feeds and speeds like a high-end gamer. They care about network speed until they can't tell the difference. They care about camera quality until they can't see the difference. They care about screen quality until they can't see the difference. Etc. Etc. They care about bells and whistles. They care about which apps they can run. They care about keeping up with the Joneses.

I agree with you about gimmicks. But one man's gimmick is another man's bell or whistle.

 

[9081094]

Yeah. An iPhone isnt exciting but that doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable to use. My car goes from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds and that’s not exciting anymore either. To me exciting is the wrong word, but you use any word you want.

But I don’t find my iPhone boring to use, given that I find it’s a joy to use.

It’s peak iPhone in China, I TOLD YOU SO

 

[neuropsychguy]

That's what you get for the hype of half-baked products like Apple Intelligence!

"While Apple Intelligence was introduced alongside the iPhone 16 lineup in September 2024 in the United States, it has not been made available in China due to regulatory constraints."

Apple is prioritizing on-device LLMs and privacy-focused AI. It sounds like the issue is more with the Chinese government not liking Apple's approach. That could be because Apple doesn't have a government-approved LLM (e.g., something that doesn't produce anything the government might deem offensive).

Edit: My comment is not an anti-China or pro-Apple one. It's recognizing that there are governmental policies that influence what companies can and cannot do. Blaming only Apple is ignoring a lot of context.

 

[I7guy]

It’s peak iPhone in China, I TOLD YOU SO

one word posts are generally not allowed so I’ll say: “nope”. I’ll wait for apple to discuss it at their earnings call.

 

[9081094]

WiFi-7 isn't going to make any difference for a few years yet. WiFi 6e is capable of higher speeds than available to the vast majority of houses. Businesses aren't rushing to buy new routers. No phones will be implementing MIMO 8x8 because running 8 transmitters would drain your battery twice as fast, so you aren't ever going to get the theoretical max.

Most consumers don't care about chasing feeds and speeds like a high-end gamer. They care about network speed until they can't tell the difference. They care about camera quality until they can't see the difference. They care about screen quality until they can't see the difference. Etc. Etc. They care about bells and whistles. They care about which apps they can run. They care about keeping up with the Joneses.

I agree with you about gimmicks. But one man's gimmick is another man's bell or whistle.

I hear the same song from our dinosaur IT-guys at work. You happen to be an IT-person too? Just out of curiosity 😊.

WiFi 7 is almost standard on all brand new tech sold today. It’s backwards compatible with older WiFi standards and already released back in 2022.

Everything you buy with WiFi chip sold today dhould be able to use WiFi 7 or you will regret it later.

Most businesses have older networks and are mostly behind anyway. Some still run windows 8 😂

 

[9081094]

Edit: My comment is not an anti-China or pro-Apple one. It's recognizing that there are governmental policies that influence what companies can and cannot do. Blaming only Apple is ignoring a lot of context.

In the US no one is holding back Apple. But they’re far behind the competion there too.

 

[dguisinger]

Why are we blaming lower sales partially on a lack of AI features in the Chinese market? Poll after poll shows people are completely uninterested in the Apple Intelligence features.

 

[CEmajr]

That's what Apple gets for selling same phone over and over and over and over again.

The product has matured. Similar to how laptops have looked the same for the past several decades. The wild wild west of smartphones is over. Apple is fine as long as they're still taking in almost all of the smartphone market's profits.

 

[9081094]

one word posts are generally not allowed so I’ll say: “nope”. I’ll wait for apple to discuss it at their earnings call.

They still make a lot of money and will blame the usual economic headwinds. They will also announce a massive share buyback to please shareholders. So you don’t have to worry for now 😉

 

[AndiG]

Lol, keep believing that’s the issue and forget the real reason. Apple is done in China. Not competitive on hard- and software over there.

The same reasons European and American car makers are losing big in China. No competive products with the exception of Tesla. Tesla innovates!

Ah… Tesla „invented“ the new Model Y but without 800V technology. Now chinese vehicles like the G6 need 10 minutes to charge while Tesla needs 30 …

 

[9081094]

The reduction started the same time China imposed the mandate.

I really hope Apple will take it more seriously than you and will try to compete harder over there. The iPhone was banned for government use and other public space workers more than a year ago. Meaning after the ban came in action, government workers and public space workers aren’t allowed to use an iPhone.

You should suppose a climb of sales with the introduction of the new iPhone 16. Instead it peaked down further.

And then you have Vivo, xiaomi, Huawei and many others delivering much better hardware in their phones than iPhones. Together with that they’ve developed the same if not better ecosystem of gear and home appliances.

Face it… from a technological point of view Apple is doomed in China.

 

[I7guy]

Why are we blaming lower sales partially on a lack of AI features in the Chinese market? Poll after poll shows people are completely uninterested in the Apple Intelligence features.

Poll after poll shows people are completely uninterested in AI.

 

[I7guy]

Ah… Tesla „invented“ the new Model Y but without 800V technology. Now chinese vehicles like the G6 need 10 minutes to charge while Tesla needs 30 …

And the new model y would win my $$$ every time, like an iPhone would win my dollars every time.

 

[SeenJeen]

iPhone design has been stagnate since iPhone X. I know countless people with iPhone 13 that have no desire to upgrade. I have an iPhone 16 and when they ask me "what's new", I genuinely don't have an answer because the AI features aren't noteworthy, nor is the Dynamic Island.

 

[AndiG]

They still make a lot of money and will blame the usual economic headwinds. They will also announce a massive share buyback to please shareholders. So you don’t have to worry for now 😉

it‘s fault of the others
it‘s fault of the others
it‘s fault of the others
it‘s fault of the others

we‘re dead

Same Kodak srory over and over again

 

[9081094]

Ah… Tesla „invented“ the new Model Y but without 800V technology. Now chinese vehicles like the G6 need 10 minutes to charge while Tesla needs 30 …

I’m not saying Tesla is best in China. Although they outsold any other Chinese brand in China.

I’m saying: all the legacy carmakers are losing in China. I believe there isn’t either an American brand left. European and Japanese will follow.

The only western car maker surviving is Tesla in China. Don’t know what the future holds.

Same for Apple. Apple has to innovate harder if it wants to stay relevant. Especially in China.

 

[Korito]

And it will fall even further. Chinese manufacturers at least are trying something new. Their AI features are useful to a degree, collaboration with all sorts of brands, and currently most important thing is they are introducing new battery tech and batteries with large capacity, like 6000mAh with no penalties on the device size. For example check Oppo Find x8 Pro. Huawei has a well integrated ecosystem, one would argue superior to Apple’s. Others are catching up and making their own things.

One thing keeping me on iPhone currently is better privacy and security. Not hardware, not software, but those features. If Android based phone come out with matching privacy and security features I will gladly migrate for something new.

 

[Plutonius]

As a consumer, Apple's success or problems are very little concern to me. I never understood why people treat corporations as sports teams and personally take the success or failures of the company.

A phone is a tool and my philosophy is to buy the best one for me regardless of who makes it.

 

[9081094]

Poll after poll shows people are completely uninterested in AI.

Depends on what use. Genmoij? Image playgrounds? I’m not interested in.

A good personal assistant that really understands what I’m talking about and can do things that saves time, very interested!

 

[WarmWinterHat]

I hear the same song from our dinosaur IT-guys at work. You happen to be an IT-person too? Just out of curiosity 😊.

WiFi 7 is almost standard on all brand new tech sold today. It’s backwards compatible with older WiFi standards and already released back in 2022.

Everything you buy with WiFi chip sold today dhould be able to use WiFi 7 or you will regret it later.

Most businesses have older networks and are mostly behind anyway. Some still run windows 8 😂

The only people that care about WiFi 7 are people who run bandwidth tests...which is virtually no one outside of tech enthusiasts.

...and I sure don't care enough to run them.

 

[9081094]

The only people that care about WiFi 7 are people who run bandwidth tests...which is virtually no one outside of tech enthusiasts.

...and I sure don't care enough to run them.

The benefits of WiFi 7 compared to WiFi 6 are big. I believe every snapdragon includes a WiFi 7 chip these days.

WiFi 7 can handle more devices and has bigger range.

It’s like saying: i don’t need 5g, 4g is just fine to me.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Selling boring products, no surprise.

Accusing "Selling boring products, no surprise" is nonsense. Of course vendors whose majority products cost less than half as much sell more.

 

[9081094]

Accusing "Selling boring products, no surprise" is nonsense. Of course vendors whose majority products cost less than half as much sell more.

China flagship mobile phones aren’t cheaper than an iPhone in China.