iPhone Sales Down 24% YoY in China for First Six Weeks of 2024

iPhone sales were down 24% year over year in China for the first six weeks of 2024, according to a new report from Counterpoint Research. The overall Chinese smartphone market was down 7% YoY.

Counterpoint says the iPhone struggled for several reasons:

"Primarily, it faced stiff competition at the high end from a resurgent Huawei while getting squeezed in the middle on aggressive pricing from the likes of OPPO, vivo and Xiaomi," said Senior Analyst Mengmeng Zhang, adding, "Although the iPhone 15 is a great device, it has no significant upgrades from the previous version, so consumers feel fine holding on to the older-generation iPhones for now."


Counterpoint also notes that the first six weeks of 2023 saw higher than usual numbers with unit sales being deffered from December 2022 due to production issues. This magnifies the negative year over year comparison.

In regards to the overall market downturn, Counterpoint says an increase in consumer confidence will be necessary to stabilize the market.

"Consumer confidence will need to rise to stabilize the market, but it is a tough call right now with everything that is happening, especially in the real estate sector," said Senior Analyst Ivan Lam, adding, "As far as Apple is concerned, there is more wriggle room in the short term. This weekend's aggressive promotions are just one example."

Growth for the first quarter is likely to remain negative.


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