Experts predict that Apple's iPhone sales and market share in China will decline by 2025.
The main reason is that the company is focusing on devices that support eSIM (digital SIM cards), while Chinese consumers are not very interested in the company's Apple Intelligence artificial intelligence feature.
eSIM is very popular in the world.
Citing renowned analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, CNBC said that Apple has been cautious in discussing its 2025 iPhone production plans with suppliers. Although the iPhone SE 4 (or iPhone 16E) is expected to launch in the first half of this year, iPhone shipments could decline by 6% compared to the same period last year.
Kuo said the company's decline in market share in China could be related to the design of the two new iPhone models . He warned that if the design remains unchanged, these models could struggle to attract consumers due to their support for eSIMs - a technology that is not yet popular in this market.
It should be noted that in December 2024, total smartphone shipments in China remained the same as the previous year, but iPhone shipments fell by 10-12%. Furthermore, the new Apple Intelligence feature has not yet created an increase in demand for new devices.
But eSIMs don't really make sense in China yet.
Apple is expected to ship around 220 million iPhones by the end of 2024, rising to 220-225 million by 2025. However, these figures are lower than the expected 240 million phones sold. Apple has not yet responded to requests for comment from the press. In this context, the company's stock fell 2.4% on January 10.
