Apple's phone shipments in China jump 52% in April
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The news: Apple's smartphone shipments in China jumped 52% from a year ago in April, extending a rebound seen in March, according to data from a research firm affiliated the Chinese government.
The numbers: Shipments of foreign-branded phones in China increased by 52% in April to 3.495 million units, data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) showed. Although the data did not explicitly mention Apple, the company is the dominant foreign phone maker in China's smartphone market.
The context: The jump follows a weak performance by the US tech giant in the world's biggest smartphone market earlier this year amid intensifying competition in the high-end smartphone category from local rivals like Huawei.
Apple's shipments in China increased by 12% in March, marking a significant improvement from the first two months of 2024, when the company experienced a 37% slump in sales. Sales may see a further boost in May as Apple launched an aggressive discounting campaign this month on its official Tmall site in China, offering discounts of up to 2,300 yuan ($488) on select iPhone models.
The price reduction, double the size of a discount it offered in February, comes after Huawei last month introduced its new series of high-end smartphones, the Pura 70, following the launch of the Mate 60 last August.
Huawei overtook Apple in the first quarter as the second largest smartphone vendor in China and is ramping up its retail strategy by opening more flagship stores and adding more retail distributors.
The source: Reuters
