A new market research report shows that iPhone sales in China have fallen 10% year over year since the third quarter of 2022 years for the same period. quarter this year. This was significantly worse than the overall decline of 3% in the Chinese smartphone market.
Several explanations have been offered, but the key one is Huawei's unexpected return as a competitor – either through violation of US sanctions or industrial espionage. suspicion …
iPhone sales in China fell 10 times %
Counterpoint Research reports that the Chinese smartphone market contracted 3% year-on-year, less than seen in recent quarters and a sign that a return to growth could occur in in the nearest future. a spectacle.
Sales of most brands fell, with iPhone sales down 10%. One explanation offered was simply limited supply at launch, as the quarter only included the first week of sales.
The initial supply constraints faced by the iPhone 15 series resulted in lower sales compared to the iPhone 14 series during the launch period.
The best picture will emerge in the current quarter.
But the main story of the quarter was the return of Huawei as a serious player in the premium smartphone market. While the only brands whose sales grew were Mi and Honor with modest growth of 5% and 3% respectively, Huawei saw sales increase by 37%.
This was almost entirely thanks to the launch of the first in three premium model – Mate 60 Pro with a rear panel like an iPod.
Huawei vs Apple
As we've noted before, the battle between Apple and Huawei really began in 2014 with the release of the iPhone 6, Apple's first phone to offer the larger screen sizes favored by Chinese consumers.
This pushed Huawei to up its own game. , and the combination of patriotism and lower price allowed Huawei to quickly achieve dominance in the Chinese market. Huawei's lead peaked in 2020, causing iPhone sales to decline.
That all changed last year when the US government imposed sanctions on China, preventing the country from exporting advanced American chips. Among other things, this prevented Huawei from buying 5G radio chips for its smartphones from Qualcomm and Broadcom.
You can't expect to sell many premium smartphones without 5G capabilities, which is why sales of Huawei phones have dropped like a brick, with Apple , is by far the biggest beneficiary.
Mate 60 Pro controversy
Huawei launched the Mate 60 Pro with full 5G capabilities thanks to a Chinese-made chip, something US experts thought was impossible.
Surprise over this development was not limited to the technology sector – the issue was even raised by the US National Security Advisor during the recent press briefing at the White House. The two main theories are sanctions violations to obtain American-made chips that were rebranded as Chinese ones, and industrial espionage, where China gained unauthorized access to American chip designs.
In any case, Huawei is back in business. Apple's rival's move is likely to hurt iPhone sales in China for some time.
