Apple saw a huge year-over-year iPhone sales recovery in China in April

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
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in AAPL Investors

China's main market research company is out with its latest data, and as the iPhone 16 creeps closer, the iPhone 15 is continuing its recovery in the country.

A green iPhone 15 on a desk with artificial leaves visible
iPhone doing well in China despite shrinking market



The China Academy of Information and Communications (CAICT) is a research firm closely tied to the Chinese government. Once a month, it publishes data on smartphone sales in the country.

The latest round of data is for April. CAICT says that foreign-branded phones in China -- which is mostly the iPhone -- increased by 52% in April year-over-year, from 2.3 million sales in April 2023 to 3.5 million in April 2024.

The year has been a mixed bag for Apple in China, reiterated by a report on Tuesday by Reuters. In January and February of 2024, iPhone sales fell about 37%. In March, sales rose by 12%.

The increase is likely to be accompanied by a decrease in profit margin for Apple and other companies. The iPhone has seen significant discounting in China for the last few months

Apple CEO Tim Cook remains bullish on the company's ongoing prospects in the country.

"I feel great that in an extraordinary competitive environment that we grew iPhone sales in mainland China last quarter," Cook said during the most recent Apple earnings report. "That may come as a surprise to some people. And so I feel good about China, I think more about long term than I do the next week or so."

The best selling Apple models in urban China are the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

China accounts for between 17% and 20% of Apple's iPhone sales every quarter. The figure varies on where the data comes from.



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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    Fred257Fred257 Posts: 251member
    Seems FISHY to me. Like the Chinese government is buying iPhones like they did real estate to keep Apple in China. 52%? Sounds suspect
    williamlondon
  • Reply 2 of 8
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,965member
    As suggested in the article, it looks like discounting may have something to do with it.

    China is now seeing a second round of steep discounting.

    Reuters, last week:

    https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple-slashes-iphone-prices-china-amid-fierce-huawei-competition-2024-05-20/
    edited May 28 Bart Y
  • Reply 3 of 8
    danoxdanox Posts: 3,266member
    Or iPhone sales were never down more than 1-3 percent, against the biggest, toughest and most competitive smartphone market in the world? Hmm......
    edited May 28
  • Reply 4 of 8
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,584member
    Fred257 said:
    Seems FISHY to me. Like the Chinese government is buying iPhones like they did real estate to keep Apple in China. 52%? Sounds suspect
    Apple lowered Chinese iPhone prices, which has helped. It's not a minor discount either, upwards of a 20% price cut, which seems a bit drastic but perhaps they do so more often than I've noticed. 
    edited May 28 Bart Y
  • Reply 5 of 8
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,453member
    avon b7 said:
    As suggested in the article, it looks like discounting may have something to do with it.

    China is now seeing a second round of steep discounting.

    Reuters, last week:

    https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple-slashes-iphone-prices-china-amid-fierce-huawei-competition-2024-05-20/
    It's fair to state that China's economy is slowing, and currently, is a bit chaotic.

    U.S. economic growth is expected to exceed China's towards the end off the decade, which is very indicative of China's overaged demographics.
    Bart Y
  • Reply 6 of 8
    40domi40domi Posts: 138member
    It's taken the Chineese 10 months to find out Hewei phones aren't all they're cracked up to be and a discount will always sway Chineese buyers.
    Having said that, this Chineese agency is manipulating figures, it was never as bad and it's not as good now.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 7 of 8
    jimh2jimh2 Posts: 656member
    Like everything there are cycles and sale prices can encourage purchases. The quarter to quarter measuring of sales is completely foolish though Wall Street loves to trade on it.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    eriamjheriamjh Posts: 1,725member
    It's really silly to be looking at monthly sales.   Quarterly smooths out those crazy aberrations.
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