iPhone 15 sales in China might be a bit disappointing to Apple, but overall iPhone sales throughout 2023 means that the Cupertino company is now the biggest smartphone maker in the country for the first time ever, according to a new analysis from IDC.
iPhone market share in China now stands at 17.3 percent, a new record for Apple despite earlier reports of tepid demand for the iPhone 15 lineup. Overall, smartphone shipments in the country stood at 273.1 million units by the end of 2023, a five percent year-over-year decline and the smallest number of shipped smartphone units in a decade.
IDC data shows that Apple shipments declined the least out of the top OEM vendors in China. iPhone sales shrunk by 2.2 percent in 2023 YoY, but its market share actually grew from 16.8 percent to 17.3 percent. This allowed Apple to narrowly edge Huawei’s Honor brand, with its market share estimated to be at 17.1 percent compared to 18.1 percent in 2022. Vivo, China’s top OEM in 2022, took a sizable market share hit, now believed to be standing at 16.5 percent in 2023 compared to 18.6 percent a year earlier.
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Compiled data for the fourth quarter of 2023 shows signs of recovery for the Chinese smartphone market. iPhone sales once again took the top spot in the last three months, standing at 20 percent of total shipments. This represents a YoY decline of 2.2 percent likely attributed to the sales performance of the iPhone 15. Huawei’s surprise introduction of its Mate 60 lineup catapulted its YoY growth by as much as 36.2 percent, with its Q4 market share standing at 13.9%
Apple will hold its next earnings call for Q1 2024 on Thursday, February 1, at 2:00 p.m. PT with all eyes set on the iPhone’s performance. The fiscal results should give us a good idea of how the iPhone 15 lineup fared sales-wise during its first complete quarter of availability, but it may not be all doom-and-gloom for the company, especially with strong pre-orders for Vision Pro.
