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

[svish]

Not surprised. With high prices and lack of higher display rates on the base models, the sales might continue to drop. Hopefully the new SE and the 17 series this year will help.

 

[Fred Zed]

Lol even the Trump ban on Huawei phones being widely sold by carriers in the USA didn’t help Apple. Wonder how BYD is doing. ?🤣

 

[pappl]

Hope the insanity with too big phones will end, >6.1 inch phones are too big for small hands.

 

[Imperial926]

The iPhone used to have China on lock as a luxury item. However, Chinese manufacturers have outdesigned, outinnovated, and now have outsold Apple's stagnant offerings.

I really wish Apple would make a stronger push on the software side to at least have parity with Android. Who would've though

Your comments are pure hubris. Android and Chinese/South Korean hardware are the cat's meow. Yeah, several years ago, it was hard to compute with Apple. But now, Apple is struggling to keep parity. iPhone has better camera/video? You really need to use a Sony Xperia or a Samsung Galaxy Ultra Series.

I take your point and I will make an effort to explore them.

 

[Imperial926]

Technologies do plateau but consumers are still buying phones and many in China aren’t choosing the iPhone.
Consumers in Asia lean to Android because they tend to be more rational with spending and just want a phone that works. Android works just like iOS works but in Asia the packaging (ie the phone holding the OS) are significantly more attractive that what is available elsewhere.
Chinese brands like Xiaomi and Huawei are impressive. Many have used Android for years if not their entire lives.
Apple’s business model for the past several years has been repacking, increase ASP, and sell you services. Their model has shifted and Asia doesn’t care for it. Most view it as why spend 1,000s of dollars for the same outcome I can get, with an OS I’ve used for years, for a fraction of the price in a more attractive package? Plus, they support local - there is a huge support for local brands

I take your points and will revisit some of these phones. There are some interesting developments in the Chinese car market also - maybe we are looking at a turning point similar to the emergence of Japanese cars in the US in the 70s and 80s.

 

[AndiG]

Nothing stopping you getting the pixel watch and the one drive 😊

Isn't one drive Microsoft? 🤔 No, of course not and I transferred lots of my workload to a Linux based system 10 years ago when Apple refused to over more than 16GB in a laptop. But nevertheless I would loose some features and would require some works to rebuild the functionality.

 

[9081094]

What I said was "vendors whose majority products cost less than half as much." This thread is about China's overall smartphone market. If you want to separate out flagship phones that is another very different discussion.

Here you have some info about flagship phones

https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/20250121675/apples-smartphone-sales-slump-in-china-as-huawei-gains-market-share

 

[turbineseaplane]

Xiami and Huawei actually innovate. Apple stopped innovating a decade ago

And a decade ago is just when we fully saw the Tim Cook impact publicly (since products take a few years)

Really all of this is all about Tim Cook and what he did to Apple

 

[Peitjah Puck]

There is Huawei Harmony OS Next. It’s proprietary and developed from scratch (not based on Android). It is now available in China for their latest models. However, it’s still not available globally, as far as I understand but I might be wrong. If it was, I’d buy a Pura 70 to try it out. I believe it will also be released globally too at some point. The caveat is it doesn’t support any Google apps but to me it’s a plus, I avoid Google anyway.

That would be a ++ for me too having the opportunity to avoid Evilgoogle.

 

[9081094]

3rd place in a declining market is a win.

Coming from first place it really is 🤥

The smartphone market in China declined a few percent. Not the double digit numbers Apple did. Apples biggest competitors grew double digits.

Timmy will probably call it the economic headwinds again and give it another spin.

 

[I7guy]

Coming from first place it really is 🤥

The smartphone market in China declined a few percent. Not the double digit numbers Apple did. Apples biggest competitors grew double digits.

Timmy will probably call it the economic headwinds again and give it another spin.

Yeah you can spin it any way you want and then so can Timmy.

 

[9081094]

Yeah you can spin it any way you want and then so can Timmy.

I’m not spinning anything around. Just the numbers of the Wallstreet journal.

 

[I7guy]

I’m not spinning anything around. Just the numbers of the Wallstreet journal.

Apple is still getting revenue from every iPhone customer. So it’s less critical for every unit sold. That’s been apples’ strategy for years.

 

[9081094]

Apple is still getting revenue from every iPhone customer. So it’s less critical for every unit sold. That’s been apples’ strategy for years.

Well, if the charts from last month are any indication to you and the capabilities of the just released S25. Apple isn’t nowhere near, and when it does come this far. Competition will leapfrog it again.

Wasn’t Apple supposed to be the first 4 trillion company the rumors told last week? Well it’s almost 3 trillion now 😬

 

[I7guy]

Well, if the charts from last month are any indication to you and the capabilities of the just released S25. Apple isn’t nowhere near, and when it does come this far. Competition will leapfrog it again.

I thought the s25 would leapfrog apple, but I’m disappointed as it appears to be a point upgrade.

Wasn’t Apple supposed to be the first 4 trillion company the rumors told last week? Well it’s almost 3 trillion now 😬

Who can predict such things. Who would have predicted apple would hit a trillion and here we are.

 

[9081094]

I thought the s25 would leapfrog apple, but I’m disappointed as it appears to be a point upgrade.

Who can predict such things. Who would have predicted apple would hit a trillion and here we are.

Aren’t you as worried as Timmy is now?

 

[I7guy]

Aren’t you as worried as Timmy is now?

You mean about his next bonus? Or that apple wont hit 4T.

 

[9081094]

You mean about his next bonus? Or that apple wont hit 4T.

I don’t see Apple becoming another 4 trillion company anytime soon. As of Timmy’s bonus, I hope it will be his last.