Sales plummeted 47% year-on-year! Foreign smartphones face a "Waterloo" in China, is Apple losing its appeal?

Sales have "dropped significantly," and foreign phones seem to be "less appealing." On January 3rd, according to media estimates, in November 2024, the shipment volume of foreign mobile phone brands in the Chinese market was only 3.04 million units, a significant year-on-year decline of 47.4%, with a quarter-on-quarter drop of as much as 51%. Under fierce competition, foreign mobile phone brands are facing increasing pressure in this largest smartphone market in the world. Some analysts pointed out that Apple phones account for the vast majority of these shipments, while other international brands like Samsung only occupy a small portion. Therefore, this data largely reflects Apple's sales situation in the Chinese market. The main reason for the sharp decline in sales of foreign mobile phone brands is the fierce competition from domestic brands, among which Huawei has performed strongly, launching several high-end smartphones that are well-received by consumers. According to market research firm IDC, in the third quarter of 2023, Huawei's growth rate far exceeded that of Apple. In the face of increasingly fierce competition, Apple is also actively responding, pinning its hopes on the iPhone 16 series released in September last year, and promising to introduce a series of new AI features through Apple Intelligence software to achieve a revival. Meanwhile, Apple's domestic competitors have already begun promoting their own AI features on their devices. To boost iPhone 16 sales, Apple recently announced a New Year promotion in the Chinese market from January 4th to 7th, covering almost all Apple product categories including iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, and Apple Pencil: "Users can enjoy discounts of up to 800 RMB when purchasing specified products. There are also trade-in discounts for purchasing a new iPhone." Analysts believe that the sudden price reduction this time is not significant, but it can still help Apple boost sales performance before the Spring Festival and gain an advantage in the competition with domestic mobile phone brands