Apple gets deeper into China’s smartphone price wars with widening iPhone discounts, but rival Huawei stays above the fray

Apple’s atypical discount drive on the mainland shows the US tech giant’s focus to gain ground in the world’s second-biggest economy amid sluggish global iPhone sales, which has seen the company hit by two ratings downgrades in the first week of this year.

Huawei Technologies’ Mate 60 Pro smartphones are seen on display at its store in Shanghai on September 8, 2023. The Shenzhen-based company has so far not pushed to mark down the prices of its latest 5G handsets. Photo: Reuters

“Apple faced more challenges in China compared to the rest of the world,” said Will Wong, senior research manager for client devices at IDC Asia-Pacific. “It not only faced competition from Huawei, but also a change in consumers’ sentiment that is now more cautious in spending.”

In the first week of the year, iPhone sales on the mainland were already down 30 per cent year on year, according to a Jefferies research note published on January 7. The brokerage indicated that there was “a big rise in discounts” for the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus models, while the newer iPhone 15 and 15 Plus models saw “a moderate rise” in discounts.

The iPhone’s total sales volume last year on the mainland was down 3 per cent from 2022, which translated to a 0.4 per cent decline in Apple’s market share, according to Jefferies.

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Still, Apple received some good news on Monday when research firm IDC reported that the Cupertino, California-based company topped global smartphone shipments last year to dethrone long-standing market leader Samsung.

Apple’s global smartphone shipments last year reached 234.6 million units that gave the company a record market share of 20.1 per cent, up 3.7 per cent from 226.3 million in 2022, according to IDC. Apple was also the sole smartphone vendor in the top-four rankings – including Samsung, Xiaomi and Oppo – to record unit shipment growth in 2023.

On the intense global smartphone competition, the “overall Android space is diversifying within itself”, said Ryan Reith, group vice-president at IDC’s Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers unit. “Huawei is back and making inroads quickly within China.”

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Huawei, however, faces a supply shortage for the Mate 60 Pro because of production constraints. The popular 5G model is still subject to a reservation purchase scheme without immediate availability on the company’s official website.

As Apple and its Chinese rivals turn to price promotions amid the weak macroeconomic environment on the mainland, Huawei will need to rely on the strength of its brand name to weather these headwinds, according to IDC’s Wong.

“The production constraints seem like a hurdle to Huawei, but it may also be a marketing tactic [to create greater demand],” Wong said.

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