iPhone Sales in China Dropped Significantly in Q1 2024

[spartan1967]

Yes. Pressure from the Chinese government to not buy US tech, coupled with a degraded Chinese economy.

Of course many here will reflexively take a feel-good swing at Apple believing that's the cause.

Well if that is not the cause & with Reuters reporting “Apple’s Q1 smartphone shipments in China tumble 19%, data shows”, then Apple is in a deeper hole than I thought they were because then they had the ability to mitigate this decline?

 

[omenatarhuri]

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.

Yeah, our family has both as well and it’s fine. To each their own, doesn’t really matter.

 

[tgwaste]

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.

#3 isnt right. The files app lets you have the access you need and if youre downloading to icloud storage its already on your other devices.

 

[tgwaste]

More customization for the home screen (and by more I mean TOTAL).
Reverse wireless charging. (It's time we're able to ditch the watch puck and truly have 1 cable to rule them all)

But neither of these things will happen.

 

[TheNotch]

Unless you're an Apple stock holder, why should you care if people over in China don't buy as many iPhones as they had in the past? It does not affect iPhone users' experience elsewhere in any way. People get mad for nothing.

 

[AlexJaye]

No wonder Apple only lets you limit battery charging to 80% on iPhone 15.

They gotta convince people to update somehow, their phones are just blah these days with artificial software limitations. Same with iPads - they could be so much more, but are relegated to toys.

Tim counting more beans, I see.

 

[tgwaste]

Unless you're an Apple stock holder, why should you care if people over in China don't buy as many iPhones as they had in the past? It does not affect iPhone users' experience elsewhere in any way. People get mad for nothing.

Mad? This is good news and effects all iPhone users. Bad sales could equate to better devices, better software and a better experience. Great sales means Apple sits on their laurels and keeps pumping out the same crap. Bad sales could get them to do something better for all of us. Just like the EU gave us USB-C.

 

[wbeasley]

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

And now EU has forced side loading, if Apple was really concerned they could easily roll that out to China too.

But they haven’t.
So maybe side loading isn’t that much of an issue? The latest apps for Vane Emulators probably solves 99% of public need for additional apps

 

[svish]

Apple could very well reduce the price of iPhones in China. Phones from competitors are also good.

 

[JohnRckr]

Technologically iphone is years behind any android, overpriced for people in china.. I wonder why it's not selling.

 

[JohnRckr]

Samsung is also filled with bloatware and duplicate apps. Onedrive etc. is preinstalled so you have to disable that and more junk apps gets installed from the Samsung app store automagically so you have to uninstall those. Also Samsung's own apps like Bixby, keyboard, browser, Samsung Pay, Samsung store etc are essentially bloatware. Then to update Google Play services you need to update the Play store and most likely you'll have to reboot. Then there's the software updates forcing another reboot. App updates will come from either the Samsung or Google Play store. Software updates are dependent on the carrier and you'll most likely have to change the phone's software region to get timely updates. The phones come with 3 cameras with only 2 being useful and actually okay. Processor is slower and not as efficient so they need to add a bigger battery that takes longer to charge. Esim is a hit or miss and no wireless charging.

Lmao dude you're trying too hard to bash on Samsung. Obviously you've seen it only in a store

 

[ducknalddon]

Nope. We misdiagnosed (or more accurately- far oversimplified) the cause of yesterdays plunge or gain. It's rarely a very simple cause:effect. Else, if it is any one thing- like stuttering economy- it probably sinks all boats (not just sales of one product) and for a long period of time.

People do tend to shift to cheaper products when they are under financial pressure, it's much more palatable than giving something up completely.

 

[pratikindia]

You forgot

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.

You forgot one thing, iPhone is not allowed at govt workplace.

 

[backstreetboy]

Lmao dude you're trying too hard to bash on Samsung. Obviously you've seen it only in a store

Lol even an 5 year old iPhone 11 / SE 2020 still smokes the latest mid range Samsung Galaxy A55.

Exynos 1480 vs A13 Bionic: tests and benchmarks

We put Samsung Exynos 1480 against Apple A13 Bionic to find out which SoC is better. See performance comparison in benchmarks and games.

nanoreview.net

 

[wbeasley]

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

bowing down vs doing no business... hmmm.
Tim's doing a fine job for shareholders it would seem

 

[deaglecat]

If US bans TikTok... as is now in the process of being passed into law... then expect US tech companies to suffer in China.

It will get political at a nation state level.

This doesn't bode well for Apple given the size and importance of the Chinese market.

 

[boswald]

With anti-American sentiment on the rise and the slow ban of US technology, combined with the insane cost of a “luxury device,” it’s not hard to see why the Chinese would prefer their own products. It’s similar in the US: some people don’t trust Chinese products and stick with American companies or products.

 

[ksec]

Pro Motion on iPhone first came with iPhone 13 in 2021, and they were already 2 years late when it was launched.

Right now even iPhone 16 isn't expected to come with 120Hz screen.

 

[citysnaps]

Unless you're an Apple stock holder, why should you care if people over in China don't buy as many iPhones as they had in the past? It does not affect iPhone users' experience elsewhere in any way. People get mad for nothing.

Many people can only feel good inside if they can publicly vector their madness/hate towards another company/person/etc.

In this case it's Apple and TC.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

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.

Only the US cares about blue bubbles and facetime. The rest of us are bewildered by such an obsession.

And yep, iPhones simply aren't the best anymore. Multiple flagship Androids are just as good or better. I personally realised this after a couple of friends showed me some of the features their phones have, and after 10 years on iPhones, I promptly switched to the Pixel 8 when it came out.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

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.

If you actually fully checked out the capabilities and features of the top flagship Androids (Samsung and Google Pixel in particular), as opposed to the $300 models, you might find yourself wondering why the hell you are still limiting yourself to an iPhone.

 

[grover5]

Only the US cares about blue bubbles and facetime. The rest of us are bewildered by such an obsession.

And yep, iPhones simply aren't the best anymore. Multiple flagship Androids are just as good or better. I personally realised this after a couple of friends showed me some of the features their phones have, and after 10 years on iPhones, I promptly switched to the Pixel 8 when it came out.

Disagree. I went the other direction. To each their own. Let’s all try not to suggest our choice is best for everyone.

 

[d5aqoëp]

#3 isnt right. The files app lets you have the access you need and if youre downloading to icloud storage its already on your other devices.

Nope. That’s exactly the convoluted way Apple wants you to believe is the correct way. I should be able to download any files from iOS safari to iPhone or iPad and connect it to PC or Mac via USB and transfer them over without unnecessary iCloud nonsense.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

Disagree. I went the other direction. To each their own. Let’s all try not to suggest our choice is best for everyone.

No way, I am definitely correct

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Only the US cares about blue bubbles and facetime. The rest of us are bewildered by such an obsession.

And yep, iPhones simply aren't the best anymore. Multiple flagship Androids are just as good or better. I personally realised this after a couple of friends showed me some of the features their phones have, and after 10 years on iPhones, I promptly switched to the Pixel 8 when it came out.

Yeah I have only read about the snobbery over 'blue bubbles' and 'green bubbles' on here to be honest as it's certainly not a thing in the UK or Europe to my knowledge. Here most people message through WhatApp anyway, so nobody knows or cares what phone platform others are using I would say.

I stick with iPhone due to the services my family and I use and we are happy with that side of things. A large number of my friends and colleagues have shifted away from iPhones in recent years though and not come back. They are happy with what they have and its no secret the hardware on Android flagships is at the very top end. I suppose in 2024 any smartphone is capable and they ultimately do the same thing, albeit in a different way in many cases. If you buy an iPhone or an Android phone, you're not going to go far wrong.

Apple are not in the dominant position they were a few years ago though and as choices have gotten better, there is a healthy mix of users on Android and iOS across all demographics. iPhone snobs used to insinuate that Androids were budget and cheap, but that is no longer the case and hasn't been for many years, its just now being realised.