Agreed. Has to be the worst model lineup since the beginning in terms of value for features. Apple seems insistent on releasing devices nobody wants (vision pro) while neglecting their bread and butter devices.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone Sales in China Dropped Significantly in Q1 2024
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The software limitations are really becoming well known and I think what’s hurting sales the most. Pro users paying $1200+ for a phone want pro capabilities with hardware and software. I want power and flexibility to get work done on my device without ridiculous artificial limitations. How is it that GrapheneOS can be both safe and powerful and made by a bunch of unpaid volunteers but a billion dollar company can’t?
People can thumbs down your comment all
they want. You speak facts and aren’t wrong. Apple products sales are not the only thing down in mainland, though. Real estate market has nosedived, etc. Would be nice for fair and balanced articles that point out many sectors are suffering in that country instead of trying to make it sound like it’s only Apple having difficulty.
Insert "Apple" for "Samsung" here and it's precisely the same story on iPhone
People are listing reasons why. No need to debate. All of them are correct and contributed to this.
I agree Cook needs to push Apple to compete better, but I don’t think he will. He should be looking at retirement soon considering he’s in his 60s and that responsibility will fall on to the next person who fills the seat. Whoever sits at the head of the table has to put together a 10-20 year strategic plan that the company will be able to pivot whatever they are working on now and execute quickly. It is doable but it will take a strong and charismatic leader.
Hopefully competing better, as odd as it sounds, includes better synergies with other companies and bringing down some of the wall height on their garden.
Cook takes an incredibly safe approach and doesn’t want to spend much on changing anything. Same hardware. Same software. It’s worked up until now. iPhone sales are flat everywhere. It seems buyers recognize if Apple won’t spend the money on improving a product, why should buyers upgrade.
Uncle Sam tried!
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
5. Nationalism is not a reason, Android phones simply got too good.
9. 99% of the population have the freedom to buy iPhone, and iPhone works perfect in the Chinese ecosystem.
It's more with competition, not the country itself tbh
Chinese consumers rejected iPhones in favor of iPhone emulators that are more conducive to having 100% of their activity on that device monitored by the CCP. Film at 11.
Ding ding ding. This is the correct answer. Android has made amazing progress in the past 3 years. It’s powerful, smooth, and frankly easier to work with and accomplish business tasks with fewer clicks. And with grapheneOS it’s incredibly secure.
Honestly, if you feel this way, why do you even care about Apple? Buy a Graphene capable phone and be happy. Life's too short.
I have one but am locked to my iPhone 13 because that’s what my kids use. I need access to “find my iPhone” to monitor my kids, I need FaceTime (for kids) and iMessage (due to apples ridiculous refusal to work well with android devices)and I need the ability to connect to my Apple Watch. If these were available on android, I’d ditch my iPhone 13 PM in a heartbeat.
Again, despite your seeming insistence that it's simply impossible to move away from Apple, it's entirely possible. Your family can track and video chat all you want on the Android platform. As per the Apple watch; you're using the sunk cost fallacy. Just move on.
So many in these threads confuse their own dissatisfaction for some meaningful critique of Apple. It's not. Everyone has a different metric by which they choose these things. For example, I LOVE that I'm on iPhone and my family is all in the Apple Ecosystem. It provides us with the most seamless experience of managing our family together. Period.
But you clearly hate those aspects of the iPhone apparently. I try to imagine me, who is very happy with Apple and their products, spending my time on Android forums bashing a product I don't like. Makes no sense to me.
I never buy the best iPhone at release. I usually buy whatever the "legacy" version is at a nice price cut.
I suspect it's the same issue in China where other brands offer better pricing. I have a great job but can't justify paying $1500 for a phone that will be outdated in no time. Rather spend it on my cars or something else that isn't "fast fashion".
I suspect it's the same issue in China where other brands offer better pricing. I have a great job but can't justify paying $1500 for a phone that will be outdated in no time. Rather spend it on my cars or something else that isn't "fast fashion".
Agree with a lot of what you say but I believe the walled garden is actually what differentiates Apple. They can’t just become Android. They have to maintain some control over the hardware and software working together in harmony to achieve what Jobs set out to do.
When graphene os has an ecosystem that rivals the breadth and depth of the apple ecosystem let’s talk.
GrapheneOS’s ecosystem is Android. It simply limits the types of data the Android apps have access to and avoids utilizing Apple play store components but still allows apps to run in a sandbox.
I’m not a huge proponent of CEOs and what many of them do for the sake of profits but their bottom line objective is the company’s bottom line. Cook sees and knows why change when our sales data shows people continuously buy?
I agree buyers who flock to Apple because they love their products are going to buy pretty much regardless but the larger population - those who aren’t die hard customers - don’t see the need to go all in on Apple.
I don’t believe “becoming Android” is the answer here. Their control of hardware and software is clearly successful and why other companies are following the same model.
I don’t claim to know what the answer is but with what we are seeing globally with Apple and governments, or with lawsuits (frivolous or not), or with declines in sales (nationalism or not), they need better solutions.
Jobs did he what he needed to do and he’s no longer around. New leadership needs new vision. Nobody is saying reinvent the wheel but if they keep holding onto “Jobs wouldn’t want that” they’ll have a hard time moving forward.
How do you explain iPhone sales remaining strong in 'Merica without insulting 'Mericans.😁