Both the Chinese and American markets are beginning to dislike the iPhone

Both the Chinese and American markets are beginning to dislike the iPhone

As of late, the issue of future development has turned into a foreboding shadow looming over Apple. One Of the focuses of external attention is the decline in Apple’s sales in China. Other data shows that Apple has also begun to experience a cold spell in the U.S. market.

On April 25, the latest quarterly mobile phone tracking report from International Data Corporation (IDC) showed that in the first quarter of 2024, China’s smartphone market shipped approximately 69.26 million units, a year-on-year increase of 6.5%. Among them, Honor ranked first in the Chinese market with a market share of 17.1% in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 13.2%. Huawei has recovered rapidly since its return at the end of August last year. In the first quarter of this year, it tied for first place in the Chinese market, with a year-on-year increase of more than 100%. OPPO and Apple tied for third place.

In addition, IDC reports show that thanks to the good market performance of manufacturers such as Honor and Huawei, the overall Android market grew by 9.3% year-on-year. The iOS market still faces greater competitive pressure, with a year-on-year decrease of 6.6%.

Looking specifically at the performance of the top five smartphone manufacturers in the first quarter, IDC pointed out that Honor has closely grasped the pain points of users and created popular products in various price segments. Thanks to the increase in AI functions and all-around upgrades such as images and screens, the shipment volume of the Magic 6 series in the first quarter exceeded the combined shipments of the previous generation products in the first two quarters and is comparable to that of folding screen products. Helping Honor’s shipments in the high-end market above US$600 (currently approximately RMB 4,350) increase by 123.3% year-on-year.

For Huawei, the Mate 60 series continues to be in short supply, and the Nova 12 series accounts for one-third of Huawei's full-quarter shipments. However, supply issues are still a key factor limiting Huawei's further shipments. Next quarter, as the Huawei P series will be fully upgraded to Huawei Pura, the Pura 70 series with a new attitude is expected to help Huawei's shipments continue to increase rapidly.

OPPO continued to rank third with a market share of 15.7%, Apple tied for third in the domestic market in the first quarter, and vivo ranked fifth with a market share of 14.6%.

It is worth mentioning that Apple’s shipments in the first quarter fell 6.6% year-on-year. IDC pointed out that despite continuous price adjustments and promotions, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max being the best-selling model during the Spring Festival, Apple is facing increasing challenges and pressure from competing products, and it urgently needs to upgrade and innovate in all aspects of software and hardware to attract consumers.

Apple’s previous financial report for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 (fourth quarter of 2023) showed that Apple’s revenue in Greater China was US$20.82 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 12.9%, lower than market expectations of US$23.5 billion. And by region, only Greater China experienced a significant decline in revenue.

Judging from this IDC data, Apple’s sales in China so far this year are not very optimistic. Other data shows that Apple has also begun to experience a cold spell in the U.S. market.

According to the latest report from market research company CIRP, the iPhone’s share of new activations in the U.S. smartphone market has fallen sharply compared to last year, falling to its lowest level in six years. Data shows that as of the first quarter of 2024, Apple's new activation share in the US market is 33%, while in the first and second quarters of 2023, this number once peaked at 40%. According to CIRP data, the last time Apple had such a low proportion of activations was back in 2017.

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CIRP accepts that the improvement in iPhone quality and the diminishing in new highlights throughout recent years might be one reason for the decrease in enactment rates. That's what another potential component is "more straightforward cell phone buy plans have provoked numerous cell phone clients to defer the update cycle," which might greaterly affect iPhones than Android phones.

In addition, Apple will release its new quarterly financial report soon. Wall Street analysts predict that the decline in iPhone revenue will drag down Apple's overall revenue by approximately 5%, experiencing its fifth decline in the past six quarters.

Looking at the Chinese mobile phone market, IDC pointed out that folding screens are still one of the keys to differentiated competition between Android phones and iOS in the high-end market.

Data show that in the first quarter of 2024, China's folding screen mobile phone market continued its rapid growth trend, with shipments reaching 1.86 million units, a year-on-year increase of 83%.

Specific to each brand, in the first quarter of 2024, Mate X5 and the new product Pocket 2 helped Huawei secure first place in the market share, reaching 44.1%; since the release of Magic V2, Honor has grown rapidly in the folding screen market, ranking first this quarter. Second, the share is 26.7%; vivo ranks third, with a share of 12.6%. The sales of the vivo Samsung ranked fifth with a market share of 5.9%.