Foreign phone sales in China slump 12.7% in August – report

Data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology showed that sales of foreign-based smartphones, including Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone, in China tumbled 12.7% in August year-over-year, Reuters reported.

In August, sales of foreign-branded phones in China declined to 1.87M units, compared to 2.142M in the year ago period, the report added citing calculations based on data from CAICT.

In China, overall phone sales soared 26.7% to 24.05M units in August 2024, compared to the same period a year ago, the report noted.

Apple’s smartphone market share in China has been facing tough competition from Chinese rivals, such as the resurgent Huawei. Online retailers in China were offering discounts, thus cutting the prices of Apple’s new iPhone 16 series ahead of its availability starting Sept. 20.

Earlier this week, Wedbush noted that the first weekend of iPhone 16 sales was being seen as a ‘bullish start’ for Apple. Despite some concerns, the iPhone 16 appeared to be selling well.

Meanwhile, analysts at Citi said that delivery times for the Pro model have increased between three and seven days in the U.S., U.K. and India, while China saw a decrease by roughly 12 days. They added that the increased lead delivery times of around a week on average, was seen for the two base models across all countries.