Apple has ridden strong iPhone 13 sales to an expanded share of the smartphone market in China, despite an overall slowdown in the Chinese mobile market as a whole.
According to data from Strategy Analytics, 14 million smartphones were sold during the country’s annual “6.18” online shopping festival in June, down 25% year-on-year. Chinese brands including Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo all experienced substantial shipment drops, but iPhone sales remained relatively stable.
Apple sold nearly 7 million iPhones during the festival, and the company was ranked top by revenue share across all major merchant platforms. “Apple solidified the leadership at the expense of Chinese brands,” said the industry analyst firm.
Linda Sui, Senior Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “COVID-related disruptions and economic headwinds caused the mixed performance. Smartphone online sales price grew to 4,300+ CNY (US$ 660+) this year thanks to the greater mix of higher-priced iPhones, up +13% YoY. However, total smartphone online sales revenue still posted -16% annual decline with 62.6 billion CNY (US$ 9.5 billion).”
Peng Peng, Analyst at Strategy Analytics, added, “Apple solidified the leadership with impressive performance during 6.18 festival this year. Apple outperformed the market selling nearly 7 million iPhone units, modestly down -4% YoY. We estimate Apple generated a revenue of 41.5 billion CNY (US$ 6.3 billion), with a full retail price of 6,300+ CNY (950+ USD). Apple ranked top by revenue share across all major platforms (JD, TMall and Pinduoduo etc.).”
A recent Canalys report shows worldwide smartphone shipments falling 9% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2022, with Apple grabbing 17% market share, up by 3% year on year. Samsung also increased its share to 21%. Meanwhile, Chinese phone-makers Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo all saw their share of the market drop to drop to 14%, 10%, and 9%, respectively.