Canalys: Apple's smartphone market share in China will drop to third place in 2024, with sales down 17% year-on-year

Recently, Apple (AAPL.US) stock price fell by more than 4%, the largest single-day drop since August 5 last year. This performance is closely related to multiple reports on Apple's weak iPhone sales in China. As of now, Apple's stock price has fallen by nearly 12% from its recent high in December last year, making it one of the seven worst performing technology stocks so far in 2025.

A report released by market research firm Canalys on Thursday showed that Apple's sales ranking in China's smartphone market in 2024 will slip to third place, behind local manufacturers vivo and Huawei.

According to the report, Apple sold 15% of smartphones in China last year, totaling 284 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 17%. In contrast, vivo and Huawei achieved strong sales growth.

As an important supplier to Apple, TSMC (TSMC.US) released its smartphone sales forecast for the first quarter of 2025 on Thursday, which is expected to fall by nearly 6% month-on-month. TSMC produces core chips for Apple devices and attributed the decline to seasonal factors. In addition, TSMC said that more than half of its revenue in the fourth quarter came from AI chips, rather than the smartphone business, which used to account for the largest share.

Well-known Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said on Monday that he expects iPhone shipments to fall 6% year-on-year in the first half of 2025, with the largest drop in the second quarter. He pointed out that Apple's AI system "Apple Intelligence" has not yet been launched in China, which has failed to stimulate demand growth for iPhones.

"There is no evidence that 'Apple Intelligence' can boost hardware replacement cycles or services business growth," Kuo wrote in the report.

Apple plans to release its fourth-quarter 2024 (quarter ending December) earnings report on January 30. As market concerns about iPhone sales and supply chain performance intensify, investors will pay close attention to this earnings report to assess Apple's future performance trends.

From Zhitong Finance APP