People walk past an iPhone 16 Pro advertisement in an Apple store during National Day on October 3, 2024, in Chongqing, China.
Cheng Xin | Getty Images News | Getty Images
apple China rejoined the country’s top five smartphone makers in the third quarter thanks to the launch of the iPhone 16, but its growth still lagged domestic rival Huawei, data released on Friday showed.
According to data from International Data Corporation (IDC), Apple ranked second in market share in the third quarter. During the period, the tech giant held 15.6% of the Chinese market, down from 16.1% in the third quarter of last year. The company’s third-quarter shipments to China grew at a flat annual rate. Apple’s market share in the third quarter ranked second.
According to IDC data, Huawei ranks third behind Apple with a market share of 15.3%. However, the company’s smartphone shipments in China increased 42% year-on-year, continuing to recover in the world’s largest smartphone market.
Apple and Huawei have been locked in a fierce rivalry since Chinese tech giant Huawei launched its new Mate 60 smartphone last year, powered by surprisingly advanced chips. Huawei has been hit by U.S. sanctions over the past few years, restricting its access to advanced semiconductors and software. These measures have weakened its smartphone business.
The Mate 60 led Huawei’s resurgence in the domestic market, and the company has since launched a number of new devices, including the so-called tri-fold phone Mate XT.
Huawei’s resurgence has put tremendous pressure on Apple in China, one of its largest and most important markets. In the second quarter, Apple was eliminated from the top five in China’s market share rankings.
IDC said in the report: “Huawei has made a comeback, achieving at least double-digit growth for four consecutive quarters. The launch of the world’s first three-fold mobile phone is expected to further promote the development of the foldable market.”
The Cupertino giant is hoping the iPhone 16 series will help it make a comeback in China, with the company promising a number of new artificial intelligence software features called Apple Intelligence. The company has said that Apple Intelligence will launch in the United States this fall, but there is no clear timetable as to when it will be launched in China, mainly because of more complex regulations in China.
In the absence of Apple’s smarts, Chinese rivals such as Oppo, Huawei and Honor have been touting their own artificial intelligence capabilities.
Apple CEO Tim Cook visited China this week and met with senior Chinese government officials and technology company executives. One analyst told CNBC this could be an effort to strengthen a partnership with the Chinese company to launch Apple Intelligence.
IDC said that domestic competitor Vivo ranked first with an 18.6% market share in China in the third quarter, and its shipments increased by 21.5% compared with the same period last year. Xiaomi and Honor ranked fourth and fifth respectively.
Another data released by Canalys on Friday showed that Apple’s China shipments fell by 6% in the third quarter. Canalys said Apple ranks fifth in terms of market share in China. At the same time, the data company ranked Huawei second in terms of market share, with an annual increase of 24% in the third quarter of this year.
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