Counterpoint: Apple's sales in China fell 18% in Q4 2024, surpassed by Huawei and Xiaomi

According to independent research firm Counterpoint Research, Apple's iPhone sales in China have plummeted amid fierce competition from domestic manufacturers such as Huawei and Xiaomi: Apple's sales in the fourth quarter of last year fell 18.2% year-on-year, a major setback for the company in the Chinese market.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the iPhone was still the best-selling mobile phone in China, but a year later, Apple lost the top spot to Huawei. In the fourth quarter of last year, Apple's sales ranking in the Chinese market fell to third place, behind Huawei and Xiaomi, and only occupied about one-sixth of the market share.

The substantial loss of market share in China resulted in a 5% year-on-year decline in iPhone global sales in the fourth quarter of last year, and a 1 percentage point drop in market share in the global market to 19%.

iPhone 16 lacks stamina

The main reason for Apple’s sluggish iPhone sales may be that the initial performance of its latest generation of mobile phone, iPhone 16, was not satisfactory.

When Apple's iPhone 16 was launched in the Chinese market in the fourth quarter of last year, it initially performed strongly - sales increased by 20% year-on-year in the first three weeks of its launch. But later, the enthusiasm of Chinese consumers quickly cooled - this may be largely related to the lack of its AI function.

The biggest selling point of Apple's latest generation of iPhones is the addition of artificial intelligence upgrades - but in China, most of the new AI features are still not available. To solve this problem, Apple is looking for local manufacturers to solve the AI ​​infrastructure problems on devices and the cloud, and is rumored to be in talks with companies such as Baidu and Tencent, but has not yet reached an agreement.

Huge competitive pressure

In addition to the poor performance of the iPhone 16 itself, Chinese local mobile phone brands also brought huge competitive pressure to Apple.

Counterpoint Research said that in November last year, Huawei launched the Mate 70 series of mobile phones, equipped with the latest native Hongmeng operating system HarmonyOS NEXT and domestic chips, regaining its share in the Chinese high-end market.

"This is the first time Huawei has regained its leadership position since the US ban," said Zhang Mengmeng, an analyst at Counterpoint. "Huawei's sales increased by 15.5% year-on-year, thanks to the launch of the mid-range Nova 13 series and the high-end Mate 70 series."

At the same time, Xiaomi's Mi 15 series of mobile phones saw strong demand, while the success of its electric vehicle business boosted its brand image, helping to support its smartphone sales.

Data shows that in the fourth quarter of last year, iPhone sales in China grew much slower than the overall Chinese market: China's overall smartphone sales fell 3.2% in the quarter compared with the same period last year.

Ethan Qi, deputy director of Counterpoint Greater China, said this was the only quarter in 2024 in which the Chinese smartphone market saw a year-on-year decline, indicating that consumers were more cautious in spending behavior.

Looking ahead to 2025, Counterpoint Research analysts are cautiously optimistic about the Chinese smartphone market in 2025, and expect full-year sales to achieve a year-on-year growth of around 1%-5%.