Apple has witnessed 12 per cent increase in iPhone shipments in China for the month of March, as the tech giant and its retail partners implemented significant price reductions to boost sales.
This increase has raised the shipment of foreign-branded phones in China to 3.75 million units, up from 3.35 million in the previous year, according to data released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) on Wednesday.
Although CAICT did not specify Apple in their report, the company is recognised as the leading foreign smartphone brand in China, suggesting that Apple’s initiatives were likely a substantial contributor to this growth. This growth comes as a welcome change after Apple faced a severe 37 per cent drop in sales during the first two months of 2024, with the company’s sales strategy including discounts up to 10 per cent on some of its iPhone 15 models during the run-up to March.
Despite the rebound in March, Apple’s challenges in China persist, with the company reporting a 19 per cent decrease in smartphone shipments during the first quarter of the year—its worst performance since 2020, as per the analysis by research firm Counterpoint. The slump has been primarily attributed to the competition from a high-end smartphone launched by Huawei in August of the previous year.
For the fiscal second quarter ending 30 March, Apple reported revenues of USD 16.37 billion from the Greater China region, which, although down by 8.1 per cent from the previous year, still surpassed analyst expectations of USD 15.59 billion as reported by Visible Alpha.
(Inputs from Reuters)
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