iPhone Sales in China Dropped Significantly in Q1 2024

iPhone sales in China declined significantly in the first quarter of 2024 as consumers turned to other premium smartphone brands, according to Counterpoint research.

iphone 15 series store
During the first quarter of the year, China's smartphone market experienced modest year-over-year growth of 1.5%, marking the second consecutive quarter of growth. This uptick in sales is largely attributed to strong sales performance from local manufacturers such as Huawei, which achieved a remarkable 69.7% growth compared to the same period last year. This growth was fueled by the launch of Huawei's Mate 60 series, a smartphone lineup that has significantly bolstered the company's dominance in the Chinese premium segment, typically characterized by devices priced over $600.

In contrast, Apple saw its smartphone sales in China plummet by 19.1% year-over-year in the same quarter. Analysts point to Huawei's resurgence as a direct challenge to Apple as the main reason for this, primarily in the premium segment where the two companies compete head-to-head. Counterpoint anticipates that upcoming ‌iPhone‌ models with new color options and AI features could help to rejuvenate Apple's sales in the Chinese market. Looking ahead, the smartphone market in China is projected to see low single-digit growth throughout 2024.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Tuesday May 27, 2025 9:10 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of May 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X ...
Whatsapp Feature

WhatsApp Teases Long-Awaited iPad App

Monday May 26, 2025 10:23 am PDT by
The popular messaging app WhatsApp has teased a long-awaited iPad app, which would be offered alongside its existing iPhone and Mac apps. The official WhatsApp account on X today reacted with an eyes emoji to a post saying that WhatsApp should release an iPad app. This could be a hint that Meta is gearing up to release WhatsApp for iPad, which has already been available for beta testing via...
WWDC 2025 Banner

WWDC is Just Two Weeks Away: Here Are the Biggest iOS 19 Rumors

Monday May 26, 2025 8:12 am PDT by
WWDC 2025 is just two weeks away as of today, with Apple's opening keynote scheduled for Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. During the keynote, Apple is expected to announce iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16, watchOS 12, tvOS 19, visionOS 3, and other software updates, along with new Apple Intelligence features. In some years, there are also hardware announcements at WWDC, but there are no...
HomePod With Screen Feature

Apple's Rumored Smart Home Hub Has Faced a Disappointing Setback

Monday May 26, 2025 7:18 am PDT by
Apple has scrapped some of the features that it had planned for its long-rumored smart home hub device, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "I'm told that Apple has pulled some bolder features from the device that could reappear in subsequent models," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter this week. However, he did not reveal any of the specific features that were pulled. Apple made...
iPhone Top Left Hole Punch Face ID Feature 2

Apple Rumored to Redesign the iPhone Every Year Through to 2027

Tuesday May 27, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly preparing to implement significant iPhone hardware redesigns each year for the next three generations. According leaks from the Chinese supply chain disclosed by Weibo user "Digital Chat Station," Apple plans to carry out a series of phased industrial design changes affecting different parts of the iPhone across three consecutive years: 2025, 2026, and 2027. The changes...
top stories 2025 05 24

Top Stories: iPhone 17 Air Details, Apple's Smart Glasses, and More

Saturday May 24, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
WWDC is coming up quickly with a number of software announcements in store, but we're also looking further ahead to hardware launches like the iPhone 17 lineup and even Apple's smart glasses project. This week also saw big news with former Apple design guru Jony Ive joining forces with OpenAI to build future AI-driven devices, while Fortnite returned to the U.S. App Store for the first time...
iCloud General Feature Redux

Apple Raises iCloud+ Prices in Three Countries

Monday May 26, 2025 1:45 pm PDT by
Apple recently raised prices for its iCloud+ plans in Brazil, Chile, and Peru, according to a support document updated last Thursday. The table below outlines the price changes in each country. Country Old Prices New Prices Brazil 50GB: R$ 4.90 200GB: R$ 14.90 2TB: R$ 49.90 6TB: R$ 149.90 12TB: R$ 299.90 50GB: R$ ...
Emergency SOS via Satellite iPhone YT

Report: Apple Planned to Offer Starlink-Like Home Internet Service

Tuesday May 27, 2025 7:08 am PDT by
Apple had plans to offer a Starlink-like satellite home internet service in collaboration with Boeing, The Information reports. Starting in 2015, Apple held discussions with Boeing about "Project Eagle," a plan to launch a service to provide wireless internet services to iPhones and homes. The companies would have launched thousands of satellites into orbit around the Earth to beam internet...

Top Rated Comments

Account25476 Avatar
14 months ago
128GB storage, 60Hz display, ~3400mAh battery capacity still in 2024, ridiculous software limitations (e.g., Battery Health revamp only for iPhone 15) you can squeeze costumers for 3-4 years but then they eventually start questioning these specs, people are not stupid.
Score: 51 Votes (Like | Disagree)
d5aqoëp Avatar
14 months ago
1. The iPhone design has largely remained unchanged since iPhone 12
2. No Pro Motion for base iPhone models
3. No direct access to file system. So downloaded files cannot be easily transferred to PC or Mac
4. Tired UI since iOS 7
5. Growing Nationalism in China
6. The display tech in iPhone 15 Pro is clearly inferior to Huawei or S24 Ultra (Reflection thinggy)
7. The dynamic island is inferior to having just a tiny camera hole on other flagships. (Even if face id is superior)
8. Cannot sideload any ipa except EU and that too has some strange requirements like Notarisation
9. Huawei have tighter integration with CCP ecosystem for easy surveillance and WeChat. Apparently Chinese love it.

Why would a Chinese get 2x costly iPhone when $600-$800 flagships have all the features and more...

...and Chinese don't care about Blue Bubbles or Facetime calls.
Score: 46 Votes (Like | Disagree)
omenatarhuri Avatar
14 months ago
Was pretty shocked how good a ~300 dollar Samsung is. Great display fine camera etc. Lots of power.

Went that way for kids phone, staying on iPhone myself.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pugxiwawa Avatar
14 months ago
That’s what happened when you release the same thing over and over and over and over again.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Hastings101 Avatar
14 months ago
Nice to see all that bowing down to China Tim Cook does is working out well for him.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
madmin Avatar
14 months ago

... they eventually start questioning these specs, people are not stupid.
Oh yes they are stupid...

(source: me)
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)