'Patriotic Consumption' Hits Huawei, Apple Frowns... iPhone Sales in China Down 30%

Apple's iPhone is experiencing sluggish sales in the Chinese market, with analyses indicating that sales volume will decline further this year.

On the 8th (local time), Bloomberg reported this citing the results of a survey by the U.S. investment bank Jefferies.

On the 13th, the official domestic release date of the iPhone 15 series, customers are experiencing the products at the Apple Store Myeongdong in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jin-Hyung Kang aymsdream@

The sales of the iPhone 15 series, released by Apple last September, are unusually weak in China. Jefferies stated that iPhone sales in the first week of this year dropped by 30% compared to the previous year. Although discounts on iPhones were expanded on online shopping malls in China, the volume did not increase, and only the average selling price (ASP) fell.

On the other hand, the Chinese smartphone market recorded growth in December last year, driven by Huawei's 'Mate60' series sales. Huawei launched the 'Mate60' series powered by Chinese-made processors just before the iPhone 15 sales began in September last year. This sparked a so-called 'patriotic consumption' trend, and it is evaluated that Huawei regained customers lost to Apple.

Jefferies estimated that Huawei shipped 35 million smartphones last year. There were limitations on production expansion due to disruptions in parts supply.

Bloomberg stated, "Apple increased its market share in China after Huawei was restricted from using advanced chips from global semiconductor companies such as Taiwan's TSMC due to U.S. sanctions in 2020," adding, "However, recently Huawei has been regaining competitiveness in the mobile market and recovering its market share."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.