IPhone sales continue to decline in the Chinese market.
On March 5th, the latest report from third-party market research company Counterpoint Research showed that in the first six weeks of 2024, the total sales of smartphones in China decreased by 7% year-on-year. Major manufacturers such as Apple, OPPO, and vivo saw double-digit declines in sales, with Apple's iPhone falling by as much as 24%, ranking fourth among Chinese smartphone suppliers.
Counterpoint believes that Apple's iPhone did not perform well in the first few weeks of this year, mainly due to competition from local Chinese smartphone manufacturers. Among them, the iPhone faced competition from Huawei phones in the high-end market and was squeezed by aggressive pricing from companies such as OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi in the mid-range phone market.
"Although the iPhone 15 is a great device, it has not undergone significant upgrades compared to previous versions, so consumers feel that they can continue to use the older generation iPhone now," said an analyst at Counterpoint.
However, Counterpoint also pointed out that there were abnormally high numbers in the first six weeks of 2023, as a large number of unit sales were delayed from December 2022 due to production issues, amplifying the year-on-year negative growth.
"Consumer confidence needs to improve in order to stabilize the market, but considering everything that is currently happening, especially in the real estate industry, this is a difficult decision," said senior analyst Ivan Lam. "For Apple, there is still more room for maneuver in the short term. This weekend's aggressive promotional campaign is just one example."
In order to boost the market, Apple's promotional activities in China have become more frequent. This year's Spring Festival promotion has just passed, and Apple has started another wave of promotions on March 8th this week. Apple can receive up to 1150 yuan in coupons for promotions on e-commerce platforms.
Apple's China region began to perform poorly in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 (as of December 30, 2023). The financial report shows that Apple's revenue in the Greater China market was $20.8 billion (approximately RMB 149.344 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 13%, lower than the expected $23.5 billion.
Counterpoint pointed out in the report that the only highlight at the beginning of this year was strong demand from consumers of the Huawei Mate 60 series. In addition, Honor, which was spun off from Huawei in 2020, was the only brand in Counterpoint's statistics to achieve sales growth, with a growth rate of 2%.
The report shows that Huawei's sales surged by 64% in the first six weeks of this year, and its market share became second, only behind vivo's 18%.
Not only the Chinese market, but also the outside world has expressed concerns about Apple's global performance this year. Recently, Goldman Sachs adjusted its best buy list and removed Apple from the list. This decision is mainly based on the recent poor performance of Apple's stock and market concerns about weak demand for the company's main products.
In the capital market, since June 2023, Apple's stock price has almost stagnated, while the S&P 500 index has risen by nearly 22% during the same period. This obvious contrast makes Apple appear out of place on Goldman Sachs' best buy list. As of the close on March 4th, Apple fell 2.54% to close at $175.1, with a market value of $2.7 trillion.