Times are not going well for Apple, iPhone sales in the Chinese market fell 19 percent: What is the future?
Despite the huge response in the market with the launch of the new iPhone lineup in 2023, this year is not going well for Apple. The South Korean military has just banned the iPhone from its offices, which will affect both users and companies. However, Apple's problems began even before this incident. In the first quarter of this year 2024, the popular US company faced a major setback in the Chinese smartphone market, due to which the sales of Apple iPhone in the country fell sharply despite the increase in global smartphone shipments.
It should be noted that after the 2020 pandemic, Apple again performed poorly in China this year in terms of iPhone sales. The report says that the company's smartphone shipments in the Chinese market fell by 19% in the first quarter of the year. And as a result of this slowdown, their market share fell from 19.7% to 15.7% compared to the previous year. In this regard, Apple has come in third place – behind them are Vivo (Vivo) and Honor (Honor).
Decreased sales of iPhone, why is this predicament in China Apple?
Several factors are being blamed for the fall in Apple iPhone sales in one of the world's largest markets. First, the government ban on the use of Apple devices by employees in that country has affected shipments. On the other hand, Huawei Technologies' resurgence poses a formidable challenge to Apple. In this regard, Huawei's sales grew by an impressive 69.7% – the company saw this gain from the successful launch of the high-end Mate 60 series. And, this rise has put them in fourth place in terms of market share (15.5%).
In contrast, Apple is now struggling to maintain its foothold in the Chinese market, despite trying to lure customers with discounts and subsidies of up to 1,300 yuan (over Rs 15,000). Analysts, however, see some signs of improvement for the company in the second quarter of 2024. According to them, the new color variants of the iPhone and the introduction of new selling strategies can change the current situation. Right now, all eyes are on Apple's May 2nd earnings report.
