Official data released on Friday shows that sales of foreign brands of phones in China fell in November. This puts further pressure on Apple as the largest international handset vendor.
According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), foreign mobile phones were shipped into China in November at a total of 3.04 million units.
This is a drop of 51.0% from October 2018 and 47.4% since November 2023.
Apple is the largest foreign mobile phone brand in China. Samsung and other competitors are a small part of this market.
Apple faces increasing competition in the largest smartphone market, as domestic brands continue to grow.
Huawei, whose handsets business was crippled due to U.S. Sanctions, saw a resurgence at the end of 2023. It has launched aggressively high-end smartphones that have proven popular with local consumers.
According to IDC’s latest research, Huawei grew faster than Apple in the third quarter of last year.
Apple hopes its iPhone 16 Series, released in September, can help it regain momentum in China. The Cupertino-based tech giant has promised several new artificial intelligence functions via its Apple Intelligence Software.
Apple Intelligence, however, is still not available in China because of the complex AI regulations in that country.
Some of Apple’s rivals in the US have already released their AI features on their devices.
Apple CEO Tim Cook visited China multiple times in the past year to strengthen partnerships with local Chinese companies for Apple Intelligence.
Apple is offering discounts on the iPhone 16 as part of its Lunar New Year promotion.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to our request for comment.
