Apple’s new iPhone 15 is selling far worse in China than its predecessor, according to separate analyses, reflecting stubbornly weak consumption and the rise of rivals like Huawei Technologies, reports Caixin. Sales of Apple’s flagship device were down 4.5% compared with the iPhone 14 over the first 17 days after release, market tracker Counterpoint Research estimated. Jefferies analysts led by Edison Lee estimated that sales of the iPhone 15 were down more than 10% compared with its predecessor after Huawei outsold Apple overall, powered by the surprising debut of the Mate 60 Pro.
The reports suggest a blow to Apple as it grapples with the weakest smartphone demand in a decade and a backlash from overheating models. If the initial estimates are accurate, they represent one of the iPhone’s worst debuts in China since around 2018, when local names like Oppo and Vivo began to captivate Asian consumers.
Counterpoint attributed the iPhone’s China slump mainly to the economy’s struggles to rebound from the Covid trough. It stressed that in the US, the iPhone 15 most likely posted gains of more than 10% over 2022 in the first nine days of sales.
