Apple's AI implementation in China changes, iPhone's global market share declines

After the decline in sales in China in November, Apple has received more "bad news." On January 13, according to data from market research firm Counterpoint Research cited by Bloomberg, Apple's iPhone market share in the global smartphone market fell by 1 percentage point to 18% in 2024, with annual sales decreasing by 2% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the overall sales of the global smartphone market grew by 4%. Earlier this month, according to a previous article from Wall Street Insight, media estimates indicated that foreign smartphone brands shipped only 3.04 million units in the Chinese market last November, a significant year-on-year decline of 47.4%, with a month-on-month drop of as much as 51%. Among these shipments, Apple phones accounted for the vast majority of the share. TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also stated in his latest report that due to the decline in iPhone shipments, Apple's market share in China is decreasing. He predicts: “iPhone shipments will decline by 6% year-on-year in the first half of 2025. Currently, there is no evidence that Apple's Apple Intelligence is driving hardware upgrades or service revenue, and its appeal is significantly declining compared to cloud-based AI services. As Apple's largest market outside the United States, this decline in market share is undoubtedly a warning signal for Apple. In September last year, Apple launched the iPhone 16 series and gradually introduced a series of AI-enhanced features through Apple Intelligence software in hopes of achieving a recovery. However, these AI features have not yet been launched in the Chinese market, and reports indicate that Apple is still seeking to collaborate with local partners to provide AI writing assistance and image generation functions. Meanwhile, local Chinese smartphone manufacturers are rapidly rising and actively developing their own AI tools and agents. Manufacturers of Android devices such as Xiaomi and vivo have seen an increase in market share, while Apple's competitor Samsung has also lost some market share. Research shows that Motorola, Huawei, and Honor under Lenovo have become the fastest-growing brands among the top ten. Recently, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also criticized Apple's efforts in innovation, stating that Apple has not invented any great products in nearly 20 years since Steve Jobs created the iPhone. He also mentioned that the sales of the iPhone are struggling because consumers need more time to upgrade their phones, as the new models do not show significant improvements compared to previous versions.