November shipments of foreign-made phones in China plummeted as Apple, Inc. AAPL struggles to maintain market share in the face of China's government subsidies and support of its domestic brands.
What To Know: Foreign mobile phone shipments in China came in at 3.04 million units for November, a drop of 47.4% from the same month last year according to CNBC calculations based on data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.
The CAICT data is not detailed by brand. However, Apple accounts for the majority of foreign-made phone shipments in the country. The significant drop in shipments highlights the increasing popularity of domestic brands in the world's largest smartphone market.
Why It Matters: Apple’s iPhones are facing tough competition from China's local brands, including Vivo's X200 Pro flagship model, Huawei's next-gen Mate device, as well as upcoming models from Xiaomi and Oppo.
On Friday, China announced the expansion of government-supported consumption subsidies to include smartphones and other electronics.The subsidies, aimed at resuscitating China's struggling economy, are expected to benefit domestic brands like Huawei Technologies Co. and Xiaomi Corp. XIACY.
Apple's smartphone sales in China fell 0.3% year-on-year in the third quarter, leaving it with a 15.6% market share. In contrast, Huawei saw remarkable growth of 42% in market share, reaching 15.3%, and Vivo claimed the top spot in September with a 19% share.
Underscoring the intensity of competition in the Chinese market, Apple on Thursday announced a rare promotional event in China, set to run from Jan. 4 to Jan. 7. The tech giant will offer discounts on several iPhone 16 models, with the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max seeing reductions of up to $68.50 and the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will drop by $54.80.
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