Apple’s Worst Performance Since Pandemic: Q1 iPhone Sales Drop in China

In the premium phone market, Huawei has gained market share over Apple’s iPhone

According to a report by Bloomberg on the 23rd (local time), citing data from smartphone market research firm Counterpoint Research, iPhone sales in China plummeted by 19% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. This is the worst performance since the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020.

According to the report, Apple’s global market share for the first quarter was 15.7%, ranking third. Apple, which held the top spot in the first quarter of last year with a 19.7% market share, saw a decline of 4 percentage points. Vivo took first place with a 17.4% market share in the first quarter, followed by Honor with 16.1%. Fourth-place competitor Huawei is hot on Apple’s heels with a 15.5% share, and Xiaomi also climbed to sixth place with 14.6%. Huawei, which had a mere 9.3% in the first quarter of last year, is now on par with Apple. The overall smartphone market grew by 1.5%.

The first quarter, which includes the Lunar New Year, China’s biggest holiday, traditionally sees a surge in consumption, making Apple’s poor performance even more painful. Moreover, Apple offered an unprecedented discount of up to $180 off the regular price in January to boost sales of its latest products. Still, it failed to prevent a downturn in performance. In contrast, Huawei’s sales increased by 70% during the same period, challenging the premium smartphone throne once dominated by Apple.

According to Apple Inc.’s perspective, China continues to be a massive market. However, Bloomberg analyzed that Apple’s business in China will face more difficulties after the Chinese government strengthened measures to ban foreign-made devices in government agencies. Ivan Lam, a senior researcher at Counterpoint, said, “Huawei’s resurgence has directly impacted Apple in the premium segment, leading to sluggish sales for Apple this quarter.” He added, “Moreover, the demand for Apple Inc. device replacements has been somewhat hesitant compared to previous years.”