Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

iPhone sales in China decline amid fierce competition from local brands

Published Jul 6th, 2016 8:40PM EDT
iPhone Sales In China
Image: Chris Smith, BGR

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

Tackling the smartphone market in China has to be nothing short of an exercise in frustration for Apple. On the one hand, the country remains one of Apple’s most strategic geographic regions, bolstered by a population of 1.35 billion people. But on the other hand, Apple is finding that maneuvering within the company is fraught with no shortage of challenges.

From patent troll lawsuits and iPhone 7 clones already hitting the streets, it seems that we can’t go a week without some sort of obstacle emerging in Apple’s path. And to top it all off, now comes word that competition within the Chinese smartphone market is fiercer than ever before, leaving Apple in a position of playing catch-up.

DON’T MISS: This simple truck design might have prevented the fatal Tesla Model S crash

According to a new report from Counterpoint Research, Apple’s share of the smartphone market in China recently dropped from 12% down to 10.8%. In turn, Bloomberg notes that Apple has since “dropped to fifth place in Chinese smartphone shipments, losing ground in its biggest overseas market.”

Checking in above Apple are a number of local brands, including Huawei, Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi who, taken together, account for 53% of all smartphone shipments in the country.

Looking ahead, it remains to be seen if the impending iPhone 7 release can help inject a little bit of life into somewhat stagnant iPhone sales. In the meantime, Apple is set to release its earnings results for the June quarter on July 26. And from what we’ve gathered so far, it looks like Apple may report another year over year decline in iPhone sales.

 

Yoni Heisler Contributing Writer

Yoni Heisler has been writing about Apple and the tech industry at large with over 15 years of experience. A life long expert Mac user and Apple expert, his writing has appeared in Edible Apple, Network World, MacLife, Macworld UK, and TUAW.

When not analyzing the latest happenings with Apple, Yoni enjoys catching Improv shows in Chicago, playing soccer, and cultivating new TV show addictions.