In a latest report, Jefferies analysts pointed out that Apple’s iPhone sales in the Chinese market fell by 30% in the first week of 2024, further demonstrating the growing competitive pressure posed by local Chinese brands such as Huawei.
IPhone sales in China plummeted by 30%. There are 5 reasons behind this.
1. Apple’s inaction marketing is no longer suitable for the current era, and its opponents have become stronger.
This performance of iPhone sales may have been lost in marketing first. To put it simply, Apple basically does no marketing and does not hire spokespersons.
In the past, due to its own influence and radiation, Apple would first receive the most market attention, exposure and media interpretation in the industry at home and abroad. It has its own topic and news effect in China.
But this year, this topical effect was taken away by Huawei Mate60. In terms of popularity, Huawei Mate60 brought very high popularity due to the return of 5G and chips, surpassing Apple in terms of topical effect.
Mate60 RS also invited Andy Lau to be the spokesperson, which perfectly interpreted Huawei's struggler spirit and the connotation of the national idol. In one and a half days, reservations reached 1.85 million units. This growth rate has surpassed the iPhone15 Pro max.
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5. Negative effects of supply chain transfer to India
This year, the issue of iPhone supply chain transfer to India has greatly affected users’ purchase choices. The quality of Indian products has been widely criticized. Previously, the yield rate of iPhone casings produced by the Indian company Tata Group was exposed. Only about 50% has caused an uproar. Domestic consumers are strongly resistant to the Indian version of iPhone 15. Judging from the quality control quality previously exposed by overseas netizens, there is still a gap between the current Indian-made iPhones and the Chinese-made iPhones.
Therefore, from this perspective, with the return of Huawei, Apple's focus is still shifting. The proportion of supply chain, sales and marketing, and R&D investment in the Chinese market has decreased, and the supply chain has been transferred to India, giving consumers the association of decoupling. , and instead support more mobile phones from local manufacturers. This change in consumer sentiment also affects purchase choices.
Judging from all current signs, $Apple(AAPL)$ s decline may continue as the Chinese market becomes more difficult to grow and iPhone inventory levels and sales growth rates peak.
4. Huawei and Xiaomi Honor divert the existing market of Apple OV
In the past few years, iPhone toothpaste has still been a big seller because in the high-end market, choices are limited, and the performance of Android camp products is too mediocre. But this year there are two major competitors, one is Huawei Mate60 series and the other is Xiaomi 14 series.
After Huawei Mate60, the high cost performance and explosive sales of Xiaomi Mi 14 have also attracted great attention in the industry. These two mobile phones are very popular, forming an Android duo and forming a strong diversion to the iPhone 15 series.
At the same time, Huawei has made a strong comeback, and Honor is also taking advantage of it. One of Honor's tactics is to replace new models very quickly, and constantly launch new models, such as Honor 80GT, Honor 90, and Honor Magic5. They continue to seize users through a sea of machine tactics. Many Consumers regard Honor as a little Huawei, and this perception has also driven the rapid growth of Honor mobile phones.
In fact, according to the Q4 data of 2023 compiled by an organization, this is also reflected. Apple's Q4 (the quarter after the release of the new machine) dropped by 10% compared to Q4 in 2022, with sales down by approximately 1.78 million.
It can be seen that China's stock market has become saturated, and the incremental space is mainly driven by popular models, creating a fierce zero-sum game.
3. Excessive performance, but does not solve the two key issues of signal and battery life
From the perspective of the product itself, the iPhone 15 uses the A17 Pro chip, which is iterated to 3nm. The chip performance is very powerful, but new application methods have not appeared.
In addition to excess performance, $Apple(AAPL)$ still has not solved the two conventional product shortcomings of signal endurance this year.
A technology blogger pointedly pointed out: Both Phone15 Pro and iPhone15 Pro Max will increase in price by a thousand yuan this year. I personally cannot accept it. The reason is that the upgrade is not big, and at the same time, none of the shortcomings are made up: slow charging, poor signal, heavy, regular version Poor battery life and no satellite communication!
2. The iPhone has been a hit for 4 years, and due to the increase in replacements this year, the user replacement cycle has become longer.
In the past four years, from iPhone11 to iPhone14, almost every model has been a hit, which itself has overdrawn the increase in replacements this year.
According to CIRP's latest report, the frequency of Apple users changing their phones has dropped again. 90% of users can use Apple phones for more than two years, and 54% of users can use Android phones for more than two years. The longer replacement cycle has affected iPhone sales.