Apple is the second-biggest smartphone seller in China

AppleInsider

Sales of the iPhone are increasing in China, with Apple making a return to the country's top five smartphones thanks to the iPhone 16.

Apple's Head of Retail, Deirdre O'Brien, in Apple Sanlitun, Beijing - Image credit: Apple

Apple has been having a tough time in China, with rival smartphone producers putting the squeeze on iPhone in the market. Even so, it seems that iPhone is enjoying more support from consumers.

The figures released by IDC on Friday puts Apple in second place in the top five smartphone producers in China for Q3 2024, a return to the list for the company. IDC puts this down to a successful launch of the iPhone 16 in the market.

Apple is listed as having a 15.6% market share, behind Vivo with 18.6%, but ahead of Huawei with 15.3%. Xiaomi and Honor round out the list with 14.8% and 14.4% respectively.

Chinese smartphone market share figures - IDC

The percentage is a little bit of a dip from the same period last year, as Apple had a 16.1% share at that time.

While Apple's impressive return to the roster is good, it's not entirely better than last year. While Chinese smartphone shipments grew 3.2% year-on-year in the period to 68.8 million units, Apple saw a year-on-year shrink by 0.3%.

By contrast, third-place Huawei enjoyed 42% year-on-year growth for the third quarter of 2024.

The IDC figures aren't the only numbers indicating an iPhone resurgence. On October 18, Counterpoint Research saw a 20% year-on-year jump in sales for the iPhone 16 versus iPhone 15 sales.



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danox

Only the most competitive smartphone market in the world Apple has 15.6% marketshare which is 15.6% more than Samsung has in China….

blastdoor

Interesting. I’d love to know why people buy iPhones in China. 

termsofuse

The iPhone is doing great in China the iPhone is doing poorly in China. Another day in the life of the iPhone. 

avon b7

danox said:

Only the most competitive smartphone market in the world Apple has 15.6% marketshare which is 15.6% more than Samsung has in China….

There are still unknowns here. 

Huawei has yet to release its year end flagship (Mate 70 - rumoured to be slated for three or four weeks from now) so Apple is satisfying the typical pent up demand for its once a year launch without any real competition.

That's going to change very soon. 

The Mate 70 series release will be a tough challenge for Apple and around MWC2025 the Pura 80 series will be released, further increasing pressure.

The iPhone 15 range had to be discounted almost from the get go in China. Will the same happen to the iPhone 16?

danox

avon b7 said:

danox said:

Only the most competitive smartphone market in the world Apple has 15.6% marketshare which is 15.6% more than Samsung has in China….

There are still unknowns here. 

Huawei has yet to release its year end flagship (Mate 70 - rumoured to be slated for three or four weeks from now) so Apple is satisfying the typical pent up demand for its once a year launch without any real competition.

That's going to change very soon. 

The Mate 70 series release will be a tough challenge for Apple and around MWC2025 the Pura 80 series will be released, further increasing pressure.

The iPhone 15 range had to be discounted almost from the get go in China. Will the same happen to the iPhone 16?

There are no unknowns inside Apple, they know exactly how they’re doing in China. No tech or Wall Street financial wizard outside of China is going to know, as they keep proving every year, they don’t have a clue. The biggest known is that Samsung has zero marketshare in China.

edited October 2024

charlesn

Whether positive or negative for Apple, these GUESStimates can't be taken too seriously until we hear from Apple, itself, which reports this week. Only about a week of iPhone 16 sales occurred in the quarter for which Apple will be reporting, but I imagine they'll update those on the conference call with comments about how 16 sales are going, overall. Considering that the marquee feature of the 16 lineup--Apple Intelligence--won't be available in China, it's hard to know why sales would be up significantly vs. the 15 models. Assuming it's true, it could be because of one or more of many reasons, but it's definitely not because the 16 is a compellingly superior phone vs the 15. 

avon b7

danox said:

avon b7 said:

danox said:

Only the most competitive smartphone market in the world Apple has 15.6% marketshare which is 15.6% more than Samsung has in China….

There are still unknowns here. 

Huawei has yet to release its year end flagship (Mate 70 - rumoured to be slated for three or four weeks from now) so Apple is satisfying the typical pent up demand for its once a year launch without any real competition.

That's going to change very soon. 

The Mate 70 series release will be a tough challenge for Apple and around MWC2025 the Pura 80 series will be released, further increasing pressure.

The iPhone 15 range had to be discounted almost from the get go in China. Will the same happen to the iPhone 16?

There are no unknowns inside Apple, they know exactly how they’re doing in China. No tech or Wall Street financial wizard outside of China is going to know, as they keep proving every year, they don’t have a clue. The biggest known is that Samsung has zero marketshare in China.

Of course Apple knows how many units it is selling but the unknowns remain. 

No one can see into the future. 

What we can do is read the cards that have already been played, look at current trends and take a stab at predicting the future. Even without analyst, ehem, insight.

So. What do we have? 

Apple plays a one card game with a single annual release cycle (occasionally broken by a lower end SE model). 

That card has already been played, just as it was last year. There will be no more flagship products from Apple until late next year. An eternity is tech terms. 

Last year Huawei returned to its dual release flagship cycle beginning with the P60 and then the Mate 60 (which went head to head with the iPhone 15).

We know that that situation saw Apple take a hit (hence the iPhone 15 discounts and later, steeper discounts basically throughout the entire year in China). 

We know very well that Apple benefitted from US sanctions against Huawei. The sanctions remains but Huawei said last year that it was basically 'business as usual now'.

Earlier this year the Pura 70 was released and kept up the pressure on Apple. 

Now it's time for the Mate 70 (the natural competitor for the iPhone 16) and early next year the Pura 80 series will be released.

On top of that there is an ultra premium (hardware/price) band that Apple cannot compete with: Folding phones. 

The Mate XT was released on the same day as the iPhone 16 and no doubt is eating away at parts of that ultra premium band.

The Mate X6 may also see release before the end of the year. 

This means Huawei is releasing three flagship tiers a year. 

Now. Let's be honest. This year's iPhone upgrades are not setting the world on fire. That is universally accepted even if some people say 'well, it is iterative'.

The problem is that the industry 'iterates' too and if you are releasing twice as many models per year than Apple, iteration starts to leave a technology gap.

So the unknowns are there but for sure Apple is in for some very intense competition over the next 12 months.