On the eve of the iPhone 17 launch, Apple's smartphone sales in China fell by 6% year-on-year

According to data from Counterpoint Research, Apple's smartphone sales in China fell by 6% year-on-year in the weeks leading up to the iPhone 17 launch, a decline greater than that seen before previous product launches. The American tech giant is not the only company facing a summer slump. Its competitors Xiaomi, Vivo, and Honor also experienced a drop in sales in the first eight weeks of the third quarter. Data shows that smartphone sales in China decreased by 2% year-on-year in the first eight weeks of the third quarter. Meanwhile, Huawei's ongoing product portfolio expansion has helped maintain positive sales growth. Counterpoint expects a slight negative growth in the Chinese smartphone market for the entire third quarter, with sales remaining flat for the full year of 2025. Some analysts from Seeking Alpha indicate that Apple's latest iPhone 17 lacks significant innovation, offering only minor updates and does not possess the catalyst to trigger a large-scale upgrade wave. As of the time of writing, Apple is down 0.11% in pre-market trading