Apple becomes top smartphone company in China for the first time

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is now the largest vendor of smartphones by shipments in China. Its shares opened slightly in the green on Thursday.

What is Apple's market share in China?

The iPhone maker ended last year with a 17.3% market share in China, as per the International Data Corporation (IDC).

Apple Inc saw a 2.2% year-on-year hit to its overall smartphone shipments in 2023 – versus a 5.0% decline seen in the broader market. IDC China senior research analyst Arthur Guo said in a press release today:

After a two-year hiatus, Huawei reclaimed a spot in the top five smartphone companies in China in the final quarter of 2023.

Apple recently lowered iPhone prices in China

Honor – a consumer electronics and software company that Huawei spun-off in 2020 held the second spot on the list of top smartphone vendors in China. Others in the top five included Huawei, Vivo, and Oppo.

On Thursday, Arthur Guo attributed Apple’s triumph also to “timely price promotions in its third-party channels” that helped boost demand. The multinational was recently reported to have lowered prices of its iPhones in China by some 5.0%.

The news arrives just days before the iPhone maker is scheduled to report its financial results for the first quarter. Consensus is for it to earn $2.09 a share versus $1.88 per share a year ago.

Wall Street currently has a consensus “overweight” rating on $AAPL.