iPhone Sales Down 4% Compared to Last Year
Impact of Intensified Competition in Chinese Smartphone Market and Supply Shortages
During the Guanggunjie period, China's largest shopping festival, Apple's iPhone sales performance significantly lagged behind local smartphone manufacturers Huawei and Xiaomi.
According to market research firm Counterpoint Research on the 25th, from October 30th to November 12th, during the Guanggunjie period, Apple's iPhone sales volume in China decreased by 4% compared to the same period last year. In contrast, smartphone sales of China's Huawei and Xiaomi increased by 66% and 28%, respectively, during the same period, indicating that Apple did not benefit at all from the Guanggunjie sales boom.
Although major Chinese e-commerce platforms offered significant discounts on iPhones, this did not lead to an increase in sales.
Ahead of this Guanggunjie, Chinese smartphone companies competed to launch new products, signaling competition with the iPhone. Huawei announced the 'Mate60 Pro' equipped with a 7-nanometer (nm; 1 nanometer is one billionth of a meter) semiconductor in August, one month before Apple unveiled the 'iPhone 15' in September. Despite U.S. export controls on China, Huawei's release of a smartphone with high-performance semiconductors excited Chinese consumers. Xiaomi also launched its flagship smartphone 'Mi14' in October, one month after the iPhone announcement, selling over one million units to date.
As competition among smartphones in China intensifies and combined with iPhone supply shortages, Apple's sales volume is analyzed to have decreased. Ivan Lam, a senior researcher at Counterpoint, said, "Apple's supply chain issues have improved compared to last month but still seem to be experiencing temporary disruptions," adding, "We expect the situation to normalize soon."
Meanwhile, this year’s annual smartphone sales volume in China is expected to increase by 5% compared to a year ago, thanks to the strong performance of Huawei and Xiaomi during the Guanggunjie period. Market research firm IDC predicted that China's smartphone shipments will end a 10-quarter consecutive decline (year-over-year) and rebound starting from the fourth quarter of this year.
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