During China’s recent Singles Day shopping festival, Apple experienced a setback as the number of iPhones sold declined by 4% year-on-year, according to data from Counterpoint Research. This decline contrasted sharply with the robust increases recorded by domestic rivals Huawei and Xiaomi, which saw sales grow by 66% and 28% respectively over the same period.
The overall number of Chinese smartphones sold during the two-week sales period from Oct. 30 to Nov. 12 witnessed a 5% year-over-year increase, propelled by the impressive performances of Huawei and Xiaomi. However, Apple struggled to keep pace, raising questions about its market position in China.
Apple’s latest iPhone 15 model, priced at 5,999 yuan ($832), faced tough competition from Huawei’s Mate 60 smartphones starting at 5,499 yuan ($763) and Xiaomi’s Mi 14 priced at 3,999 yuan ($555).
The competition is intense as e-commerce platforms offer substantial discounts on Apple’s iPhones. Although China’s major e-commerce platforms like Alibaba refrained from releasing sales figures for the Singles Day festival, JD.com reported that the transaction volume of Apple products on its platform exceeded 10 billion yuan ($1.39 billion).
In other words, both domestic rivals and the supply chain were the primary factors contributing to Apple’s sluggish performance, especially with the new iPhone 15 models. The launch of Huawei’s Mate 60 series, powered by an independently developed advanced chip, garnered significant patriotic support in China.