iPhone sales in China fell for the fourth consecutive month despite price cuts.
Official data shows that in 2024, non-Chinese smartphone sales fell 47% compared to the same period in 2023. This is also the reason why Apple reduced the prices of current iPhone models in this country…
iPhone sales in China
iPhone sales in China have come under increasing pressure in recent years due to a combination of government pressure on consumers to buy Chinese phone brands and the surprise re-emergence of Huawei as a premium smartphone competitor .
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Pressure on the Chinese people has been mounting for years, starting with the trade war with the US in 2019.
Using an iPhone in China is now seen as shameful by some consumers, a report from the country of one billion people says. The combined impact of the Trump administration's trade war with China and Huawei's export blacklist is further fueling the "Boycott Apple" movement in the country.
For several years, Apple was protected by a ban on exporting 5G chips to China, meaning Huawei could no longer compete effectively with the iPhone. However, the Chinese brand somehow managed to source 5G chips in 2023, allowing it to compete with the "Apple" once again.
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Apple has been reluctant to respond with official price cuts, quietly offering discounts to third-party retailers that are then passed on to consumers. The company began cutting iPhone prices in 2022 and has done so several times since then, the latest example being a New Year's promotion that began on January 4, 2025.
Smartphone sales from foreign brands continue to decline
Not just Apple, according to Reuters, sales of all non-Chinese smartphone brands continued to decline.
In November 2024, the number of foreign-branded smartphones shipped to China, including Apple's iPhone, fell 47.4% year-on-year for the past four months.
