By Liam Mo and Brenda Goh
BEIJING (Reuters) – (This Jan. 16 story has been corrected to indicate that it’s Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s worst efficiency in China for smartphone gross sales since 2016, not Apple’s worst smartphone gross sales efficiency in China since 2016, in paragraphs 2, 5)
Apple was dethroned as China’s largest smartphone vendor in 2024, with native rivals Vivo and Huawei overtaking the iPhone maker after its annual shipments within the nation declined 17%, information from analysis agency Canalys confirmed on Thursday.
It was Apple’s largest annual smartphone gross sales decline in China since 2016 and concerned contraction in all 4 quarters, together with a 25% drop within the ultimate quarter, in response to the information.
For the total 12 months, funds smartphone maker Vivo captured a 17% market share in China, adopted by premium rival Huawei with 16% and Apple with 15%, demonstrating the rising gross sales stress it faces from home producers in certainly one of its largest world markets.
The decline additionally factors to how components such because the absence of synthetic intelligence capabilities within the newest iPhones offered in China, the place ChatGPT isn’t accessible, are consuming into Apple’s competitiveness.
“This marks certainly one of Apple’s worst annual efficiency in China,” Canalys analyst Toby Zhu mentioned.
“Apple’s premium market place faces a number of challenges: Huawei’s steady flagship releases, the proliferation of home foldable telephones in high-price segments, and Android manufacturers like Xiaomi (OTC:XIACF) and Vivo constructing client loyalty by technological improvements,” he mentioned.
Apple had beforehand loved 4 years of constant progress following U.S. sanctions that positioned Huawei on an entity record in 2019, proscribing its entry to American expertise.
However Huawei has made a robust comeback to the premium phase since August 2023, when it launched new telephones with locally-made chipsets. The Chinese language firm posted a 24% rise in shipments within the fourth quarter.
Apple didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The iPhone maker has turned to uncommon reductions to stimulate gross sales. The corporate launched a four-day promotion in China from Jan. 4-7, providing value cuts of as much as 500 yuan ($68.50) on its iPhone 16 fashions by its official channels.
Main Chinese language e-commerce platforms have adopted go well with with their very own promotions. Alibaba (NYSE:BABA)’s Tmall market introduced reductions of as much as 1,000 yuan ($137) on the most recent iPhone 16 sequence units.
Among the many prime 5 distributors, largely budget-focused Xiaomi posted the strongest progress with a 29% improve in fourth-quarter shipments, whereas Oppo and Vivo recorded positive factors of 18% and 14% respectively, in response to the Canalys information.
Annual shipments of smartphones in China in 2024 elevated 4% year-on-year to 285 million models.
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