Apple faced a setback in the Chinese smartphone market as iPhone shipments declined by approximately 10-12% year-over-year in December 2024, according to a report by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. This drop occurred despite the fact that overall smartphone shipments in China remained relatively stable during the same period.
The decline in iPhone sales is attributed to several factors like the lack of innovation. The iPhone 16 series, released in 2024, failed to impress Chinese consumers with its minor improvements over previous models. Local brands, particularly Huawei, have gained market share at Apple’s expense.
Moreover, rumors suggest upcoming iPhone models may only support eSIM technology, which is not widely adopted in China. And I assume Apple Intelligence has also a decent part to play in it, specially in China where it is not available and Apple hasn’t even found any Chinese AI partner as they lag behind in developing their own.
Despite the expected launch of the iPhone SE4 in mid-2025, shipments for the first half of 2025 are projected to decline by about 6% year-over-year.
The company’s market share in China has been sliding, with Apple briefly falling out of the top five smartphone vendors in the second quarter of 2024. Global shipments of iPhones in 2025 are expected to be between 220 million and 225 million units. This is below the market expectation of 240 million units or more.
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