Apple has slipped to fifth place in China’s smartphone market for the first quarter of 2024, according to the latest report from analytics company Canalys (via MacRumors), marking a significant decline for the tech giant in Asia’s largest economy.
The report revealed that Huawei returned to the top position after 13 quarters, capturing a 17 percent market share, driven by the success of its Mate and nova series.
In this quarter, Huawei shipped 11.7 million smartphones, a remarkable 70 percent increase from a year earlier, as per the report. This resurgence is notable, given the challenges the company faced due to U.S. sanctions, which led to a major reorganization of its phone business. Huawei’s 5G Mate 60 Pro, powered by a China-made 7-nanometer processor, played a key role in the company’s rebound.
Reportedly, Oppo also performed strongly, rising to second place with a market share of 16 percent after shipping 10.9 million units, largely thanks to the success of its Reno 11 series. Honor and Vivo took third and fourth places with 10.6 million and 10.3 million units shipped, respectively. While Honor saw a year-on-year increase of nine percent, vivo experienced a nine percent decrease in sales.
The report highlights that Apple’s decline was the most significant among the top five brands, dropping from first to fifth place with 10 million units shipped, representing a 25 percent year-on-year decrease. The decline comes at a challenging time for Apple, despite CEO Tim Cook’s recent trip to China, where he inaugurated a new flagship store in Shanghai and attended the China Development Forum in Beijing.
Apple’s deepening ties with China come amid efforts to expand production in Southeast Asia and India. The greater China region accounted for approximately 17 percent of Apple’s net sales from October to December 2023, underscoring its importance to the company’s supply chain. However, Apple is facing an uphill battle to reverse falling iPhone sales in China, with a 24 percent year-on-year decline in 2023 projected to continue into 2024.
Huawei’s continued expansion, driven by its HarmonyOS ecosystem and new Pure line of flagship smartphones, presents a significant challenge to Apple in a market previously dominated by Android and iOS. As the competition intensifies, Apple will need to find new ways to regain its footing in the Chinese smartphone market.
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