Apple Defies Odds In China Amid Shrinking Smartphone Market: Will iPhone Maker's Q2 Blow Us Away?

Apple, Inc. AAPL is scheduled to report its fiscal year second quarter results on May 4 after the market close and wary investors look ahead to see whether the tech giant managed to beat the economic blues.

What Happened: Cupertino, California-based Apple outperformed competitors in China in the March quarter, data released by market research firm Canalys said. The March quarter is Apple's fiscal-year second quarter.

Apple's iPhone shipments were at 13.3 million units in the first quarter, giving it a 20% share of the overall Chinese market, Canalys data showed. In the year-ago quarter, the company's share of the smartphone market was at 18%.

On a year-over-year basis, Apple's shipments edged down 3% in the first quarter compared to the 11% drop for the overall smartphone market in China.

Second-ranked Oppo's shipments fell 10% year-over-year to 12.6 million units and the company had a 19% market share. Vivo's market share rose 1 percentage point to 19% and its shipments fell 7% to 11.3 million units.

Honor and Xiaomi shopped under 10 million units of smartphones each.

See Also: Everything You Need To Know About Apple Stock

Why It's Important: The Greater China region, comprising mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, accounted for 19% of Apple’s revenue in its fiscal year that ended in September 2022. iPhone sales made up roughly 52% of the total sales of the company

Apple outperforming domestic rivals, which usually focus on volume at the expense of margin, is a feat in itself. China is also important for Apple from the perspective of production. Despite the company's efforts to diversify away from China due to geopolitical risks, the bulk of its products roll out of the Chinese factories of its supply chain.

Analysts, on average, expect the company to report earnings per share of $1.43, down from $1.52 in the year-ago quarter. The consensus also models a 4.4% year-over-year drop in revenue to $92.98 billion.

Apple closed Wednesday's session down 0.1% at $163.76, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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