iPhone sales declined ‘biggest ever’ in China while Huawei grew: 2024

Apple is slammed with the “biggest ever” 2024 iPhone sales decline in China as Huawei intensified competition. A new report highlights the journey of Huawei, Apple, and some other top brands in the Chinese smartphone ground for the last year.

Canalys released the Q4 2024 Chinese smartphone market report. Apart from the fourth quarter analytics, the details show the full-year performance of top brands.

While Huawei performed impressively in China, Apple iPhone sales saw the largest drop in 2024. The company slid down to third place, right below the Pura maker.

One of the senior Canalys analysts – Toby Zhu said that 2024 marked Apple’s worst annual performance in China. He said the OEM faced many hurdles last year.

“Apple’s premium market position faces multiple challenges: Huawei’s continuous flagship releases, the proliferation of domestic foldable phones in high-price segments, and Android brands like Xiaomi and Vivo building consumer loyalty through technological innovations.” – said Toby Zhu.

Canalys Report

Huawei has gained the third spot in Q4 2024 with 12.9 million smartphone shipments. It owns 17% of the market share and has risen 24% YoY. Apple, on the other hand, remained at the top with 13.1 million iPhone sales, and a 17% market share.

Even though the iPhone maker declined by 25% annually, it grabbed the first spot. The company also made the highest number of shipments in Q4 last year.

Vivo ranked second with 12.9 million shipments and 17% market share. The fourth position shows Xiaomi with 12.2 million unit sales and 16% market share while OPPO appears in the fifth place with 10.6 million smartphone shipments.

Q4 2024 Chinese Smartphone market report (Image Credits: Canalys)

Full Year 2024

The table flipped when Canalys shared the data of Huawei and Apple’s full-year performance. The former grew by 37% annually and shipped a total of 46 million smartphone units. It scored 16% of the market share in China.

However, Apple landed in third place with 42.9 million iPhone sales and 15% of the market share. It has dropped by 17% in the annual growth rate. iPhone sales fell in all four quarters of 2024 with a specific 25% decline in the fourth quarter.

Vivo remains at the top with 49.3 million shipments in 2024. OPPO and Honor grabbed fourth and fifth positions respectively with a 3% YoY decline.

2024 full-year Chinese smartphone market report (Image Credits: Canalys)

In Huawei’s absence, Apple has been doing great in the Chinese smartphone market. But the firm’s strong comeback in 2023 hit the iPhone maker hard.

Despite discounts and promotions, Apple failed to impress customers with its newly launched iPhones. Meanwhile, the lack of innovation and AI also pushed Chinese consumers away from Apple products.

Now we have entered 2025 and both tech giants have new plans to gain a big foothold in the Chinese market. It would be worth seeing which brand will get more attention for their creations this time.

Apple iPhone 16 series (Image Credits: Apple)

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