Apple Sales Volume Underperforms Huawei & Xiaomi On China's Singles Day: Report

During China's recent Singles Day shopping festival, Apple Inc AAPL reportedly experienced a 4% year-on-year decline in smartphone sales. This drop contrasts with significant sales increases by Chinese rivals Huawei Technologies Co and Xiaomi Corp XIACF XIACY, which saw their sales grow by 66% and 28%, respectively.

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The overall Chinese smartphone market witnessed a 5% year-over-year increase in sales during the festival, which ran from October 30 to November 12, Reuters reports, citing data from Counterpoint Research.

Apple's latest iPhone 15 model starts at a higher price point of 5,999 yuan ($832), compared to Huawei's Mate 60, starting at 5,499 yuan ($763), and Xiaomi's Mi 14 priced from 3,999 yuan ($555).

China's decision to expand its prohibition on iPhones within key sectors indicates growing challenges for Apple.

As per the report, JD.com Inc JD reported that Apple products exceeded 10 billion yuan ($1.39 billion) in transaction volume on their platform during the festival. Xiaomi also said a substantial gross merchandise value of over 22.4 billion yuan.

The Chinese smartphone market is expected to rebound, with IDC predicting year-on-year sales growth in the fourth quarter after ten consecutive quarters of decline. The competition intensified before the shopping festival, with significant discounts on Apple iPhones offered by Chinese e-commerce platforms.

Apple launched its iPhone 15 series in late September, while Huawei released its Mate 60 line a month earlier, featuring an independently developed advanced chip. The Mate 60 series has garnered significant patriotic support in China, and Xiaomi's Mi 14 series, launched in late October, achieved over 1 million units in sales shortly after its release, the report further added.

Counterpoint analysts, as per the report, suggest that Apple's sluggish performance is partly due to supply chain issues affecting the availability of the new iPhone 15 models. Senior analyst Ivan Lam expects the supply situation to normalize soon.

Price Action: AAPL shares closed higher by 0.35% at $191.31 on Wednesday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.