Apple’s iPhone sales in China fell 24% year on year in the first six weeks of 2024, according to research firm Counterpoint, as the US company faced increased competition from domestic rivals such as Huawei.

The US tech giant’s chief competitor in China in premium smartphones, Huawei, saw unit sales rise by 64% in the period, according to the report.

Apple’s share of the Chinese smartphone market dropped to 15.7%, putting it in fourth place, compared with second place in the same period of 2023 when it accounted for 19% of the market. Huawei rose to second place as its market share expanded to 16.5% from 9.4% a year earlier.

The overall smartphone market in China shrank 7%, the report said.

Apple “faced stiff competition at the high end from a resurgent Huawei while getting squeezed in the middle on aggressive pricing from the likes of Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi”, said Counterpoint senior analyst Mengmeng Zhang.

Apple began subsidising certain iPhone models by as much as the equivalent of R3 500 last week through flagship stores on Tmall, Alibaba’s major marketplace platform. It had already offered iPhone discounts of up to R1 300 on its official sites last month.

Huawei has seen a resurgence in its premium smartphone sales since it released its Mate60 series in August after struggling for years with US restrictions on the exports of key components to the company.

Read: Fears that prized Chinese market at risk for Apple

Honor, the smartphone brand spun off from Huawei in 2020, was the only other top-five brand to see unit sales increase during the first six weeks of the year, up 2%. Chinese brands Vivo, Xiaomi and Oppo dropped 15%, 7% and 29%, respectively. — Yelin Mo and Brenda Goh, (c) 2024 Reuters