Apple is fighting to keep the iPhone relevant in China. New figures show foreign smartphone shipments to China nearly halved in November. Apple faces stiff competition from domestic smartphone makers like Huawei.
Apple’s battle to maintain the iPhone’s popularity in China appears to be getting more intense.
On Friday, the government-backed China Institute of Information and Communication Technology announced that overseas smartphone shipments in November fell 47.4% from a year earlier, in another sign of trouble for Apple.
Shipments of smartphones outside China, including iPhones, decreased to 3.04 million units, following a 44.3% decline in October.
The figures, first reported by Reuters, highlight Apple’s continued challenges in its most important international markets. In Greater China, where Apple has built a vast supply chain empire, annual net sales have fallen for the second year in a row.
One of the biggest threats to Apple’s iPhone sales in the country, which fell about 8% to $66.9 billion in the latest fiscal year, is the rise of powerful new smartphones from domestic competitors.
Chinese technology giant Huawei is posing one of Apple’s biggest challenges of late with its Mate 60 series of smartphones launching in 2023 and Mate 70 series launching in November. .
The Mate 60 series surprised the smartphone industry as it is equipped with an advanced chip made in China.
U.S. export controls were intended to limit China’s access to advanced chips, but Huawei’s inclusion of domestically produced chips with similar functionality to U.S. technology means that local Chinese companies have It highlights how quickly companies are working to innovate around constraints.
Apple is under pressure to respond to increased competition in China by introducing discounts to attract consumers. The company, for example, announced a discount worth about $70 on iPhone 16 Pro models ahead of the Lunar New Year.
It also faces pressure to accelerate the rollout of a suite of generative AI features to iPhones, as Apple Intelligence is not yet available in China.
Apple did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
