iPhone sales in China fell 30% in the first week of 2024, analysts at Jefferies said, adding signs of growing competitive pressures from domestic rivals such as Huawei to Apple.
Apple's decline was the main catalyst for an overall double-digit drop in smartphone sales in China in the first week of the year, according to a note published by the brokerage on Sunday. Other Android device brands and Huawei saw relatively stable year-on-year growth during this period, according to the brokerage.
This drop in Apple's sales occurred despite the company's aggressive discount on several iPhone models in the main Chinese online markets, according to the brokerage. For example, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max saw a 16% price reduction on e-commerce platform Pinduoduo in the first week of 2024.
The 30% drop in sales represents an acceleration of the pullback from the 3% decline the U.S. company saw in all of 2023 in its third-largest market, Jefferies said, adding that it calculated this from its own market tracking. Specifically, the 3% decline in 2023 equated to a 0.4% reduction in Apple's market share.
Jefferies analysts said Apple's decline is largely attributed to competitive pressures from Chinese rivals, especially Huawei, which launched its Mate 60 series of phones in August last year.
Representatives for Apple and Huawei did not comment on the matter.
The Mate 60 line is widely seen as marking Huawei's return to the high-end smartphone market after years of US sanctions that had previously hampered the company's advancement in the sector.
For the last quarter of 2023, Huawei's share of the Chinese smartphone market increased by about 6%, according to the note.
Jefferies analysts stated that Apple will likely face more competitive pressure from Chinese rivals throughout 2024. Their forecast is that Apple's sales volumes will continue to decline by double digits in 2024, while Huawei is expected to continue gaining market share.
The broker predicted that Huawei will have sales of 64 million smartphones worldwide this year – a substantial increase compared to less than 35 million units in 2023.
Source: CNN Brasil
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