iPhone Sales in China Dropped Significantly in Q1 2024

[MacRumors]

iPhone sales in China declined significantly in the first quarter of 2024 as consumers turned to other premium smartphone brands, according to Counterpoint research.

During the first quarter of the year, China's smartphone market experienced modest year-over-year growth of 1.5%, marking the second consecutive quarter of growth. This uptick in sales is largely attributed to strong sales performance from local manufacturers such as Huawei, which achieved a remarkable 69.7% growth compared to the same period last year. This growth was fueled by the launch of Huawei's Mate 60 series, a smartphone lineup that has significantly bolstered the company's dominance in the Chinese premium segment, typically characterized by devices priced over $600.

In contrast, Apple saw its smartphone sales in China plummet by 19.1% year-over-year in the same quarter. Analysts point to Huawei's resurgence as a direct challenge to Apple as the main reason for this, primarily in the premium segment where the two companies compete head-to-head. Counterpoint anticipates that upcoming iPhone models with new color options and AI features could help to rejuvenate Apple's sales in the Chinese market. Looking ahead, the smartphone market in China is projected to see low single-digit growth throughout 2024.

Article Link: iPhone Sales in China Dropped Significantly in Q1 2024

 

[Account25476]

128GB storage, 60Hz display, ~3400mAh battery capacity still in 2024, ridiculous software limitations (e.g., Battery Health revamp only for iPhone 15) you can squeeze costumers for 3-4 years but then they eventually start questioning these specs, people are not stupid.

 

[omenatarhuri]

Was pretty shocked how good a ~300 dollar Samsung is. Great display fine camera etc. Lots of power.

Went that way for kids phone, staying on iPhone myself.

 

[d5aqoëp]

1. The iPhone design has largely remained unchanged since iPhone 12
2. No Pro Motion for base iPhone models
3. No direct access to file system. So downloaded files cannot be easily transferred to PC or Mac
4. Tired UI since iOS 7
5. Growing Nationalism in China
6. The display tech in iPhone 15 Pro is clearly inferior to Huawei or S24 Ultra (Reflection thinggy)
7. The dynamic island is inferior to having just a tiny camera hole on other flagships. (Even if face id is superior)
8. Cannot sideload any ipa except EU and that too has some strange requirements like Notarisation
9. Huawei have tighter integration with CCP ecosystem for easy surveillance and WeChat. Apparently Chinese love it.

Why would a Chinese get 2x costly iPhone when $600-$800 flagships have all the features and more...

...and Chinese don't care about Blue Bubbles or Facetime calls.

 

[jayducharme]

Wow. Almost 20%. That’s huge. Apple’s been touting how the Chinese market loves big phones. Maybe that’s why the next iPhones are larger.

 

[spartan1967]

And with China's appetite for big phones, it's not Apple's phone selection causing this. Geo-political pressures will only continue to get worse.

Hey Domas, bring back the Mini. We'll help you pick up some of that slack with China's retaliation.

 

[DelayedGratificationGene]

The newness/novelty/media hype for Huawei of course drove sales however the superior product(iPhone) will be realized once again and the novelty is gone. We’ve all seen this happen many times.

 

[wbeasley]

Didnt the Chinese government not want Apple phones used in government tasks?

And cheaper (good) phones are always going to sell well especially when Cost of Living and Inflation are world wide problems.

 

[madmin]

The 2nd of May earning call is going to be tough

unless you release some super new iPads beforehand

 

[wbeasley]

1. The iPhone design has largely remained unchanged since iPhone 12
2. No Pro Motion for base iPhone models
3. No direct access to file system. So downloaded files cannot be easily transferred to PC or Mac
4. Tired UI since iOS 7
5. Growing Nationalism in China
6. The display tech in iPhone 15 Pro is clearly inferior to Huawei or S24 Ultra (Reflection thinggy)
7. The dynamic island is inferior to having just a tiny camera hole on other flagships. (Even if face id is superior)
8. Cannot sideload any ipa except EU and that too has some strange requirements like Notarisation
9. Huawei have tighter integration with CCP ecosystem for easy surveillance and WeChat. Apparently Chinese love it.

Why would a Chinese get 2x costly iPhone when $600-$800 flagships have all the features and more...

...and Chinese don't care about Blue Bubbles or Facetime calls.

I doubt 8. is of much concern since Chinese government controls what apps you can load and use.
Sideloading something not allowed could just get you in trouble.

 

[madmin]

... they eventually start questioning these specs, people are not stupid.

Oh yes they are stupid...

(source: me)

 

[Riovfo]

whats chinas percentage of apples total revenue?

 

[DFZD]

Can we have Jon Stewart back on air now, Apple?

 

[Jeo_cz]

Don't blame poor hardware changes. Tim hasn't been on some chinese stage for at least a month. Time to go there and widely smile publicly. Hopefully it will help to promote iPhones again for next few days (or hours at least).

 

[goshya]

Terrible software bugs in iOS and watchOS in China. The most important apps (WeChat, WeChat for Apple Watch, Weibo, notifications of Chinese apps etc) are buggy and work better on Android. I informed friends working for Apple China directly about Apple Watch WeChat bugs (no notification for incoming WeChat calls). They confirmed the bugs but told me there was no way of contacting someone at Apple internally to improve the products/software. Many colleagues also complain about bad reception in China compared to cheap Android phones. Apple seems to ignore any bugs that affect people outside the US. Try Apple Maps in Japan (or China), what a disaster! If I didn’t have to move back and forth between China and Europe, I’d switch to a Huawai phone in a heartbeat.
P.S. Don’t get me started on value for money. 60hz didplay in 2024? Are you joking?

 

[d5aqoëp]

I doubt 8. is of much concern since Chinese government controls what apps you can load and use.
Sideloading something not allowed could just get you in trouble.

Getting into trouble with Govt is another topic. Point is Chinese can still freely sideload any apk on their Android devices.

 

[ryangreen]

No surprise here. Send stuff to China to be manufactured, technology is copied, released under a different brand and market share is lost. Rinse and repeat.

 

[ducknalddon]

Why would a Chinese get 2x costly iPhone when $600-$800 flagships have all the features and more...

The same reasons the rest of the world does.

There are two problems for Apple in China at the moment. First the Chinese economy is stuttering due to the property crisis. The second is the difficult political situation with the US.

 

[techcboy]

128GB storage, 60Hz display, ~3400mAh battery capacity still in 2024, ridiculous software limitations (e.g., Battery Health revamp only for iPhone 15) you can squeeze costumers for 3-4 years but then they eventually start questioning these specs, people are not stupid.

The average consumer doesn’t care about specs, so long as the phone is fast, has a good camera and lasts all day. You forget Apple do tons of research through surveys every year and asks Apple users what they think about these points and how their iPhone stacks up. If people weren’t happy they’d fix it. Chip advancements mean the iPhone doesn’t need a huge battery, damn the plus iPhone has one of the best batteries in the game. I personally use the Pro Max, but would switch to 60hz for the battery gain. Phones are too packed and too heavy to be putting more battery cells in there. 😂

 

[deaglecat]

this is a reason why green/blue bubbles and ecosystem lock-in is so important to Apple in the West.

 

[nuff_said]

whats chinas percentage of apples total revenue?

Roughly 17-20% of total revenue. Source: Reuters and Statistica.
I didn’t have time to do the math myself directly from anything Apple releases

 

[backstreetboy]

128GB storage, 60Hz display, ~3400mAh battery capacity still in 2024, ridiculous software limitations (e.g., Battery Health revamp only for iPhone 15) you can squeeze costumers for 3-4 years but then they eventually start questioning these specs, people are not stupid.

Lol still gets like 6h SOT with 3349 mAh battery https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone15/comments/1axf9ty vs the Galaxy s24 with much larger 4000 mAh battery only getting 4h SOT https://www.reddit.com/r/samsung/comments/1abpk49 .

 

[Hastings101]

Nice to see all that bowing down to China Tim Cook does is working out well for him.

 

[contacos]

The average consumer doesn’t care about specs, so long as the phone is fast, has a good camera and lasts all day. You forget Apple do tons of research through surveys every year and asks Apple users what they think about these points and how their iPhone stacks up. If people weren’t happy they’d fix it. Chip advancements mean the iPhone doesn’t need a huge battery, damn the plus iPhone has one of the best batteries in the game. I personally use the Pro Max, but would switch to 60hz for the battery gain. Phones are too packed and too heavy to be putting more battery cells in there. 😂

Well clearly people in China are not happy.

 

[pugxiwawa]

That’s what happened when you release the same thing over and over and over and over again.