CUPERTINO, April 25 — Apple lost its crown as China’s biggest smartphone seller in the first quarter of 2024 as its smartphone shipments fell 6.6 per cent from a year ago amid intense competition, preliminary data from research firm IDC showed on Thursday.
Honor and Huawei were tied for the top spot, with Honor’s market share rising to 17.1 per cent and Huawei’s share climbing to 17 per cent, IDC said, while the iPhone maker’s market share fell to 15.6 per cent.
The IDC declares a statistical tie when the difference between the share of revenue or shipments between two or more vendors is 0.1 per cent or less.
“Apple’s price promotions in the quarter were unable to mitigate the impact of the intense competition from Android players,” IDC China senior research analyst Arthur Guo said in the report.
Overall smartphone shipments in China rose 6.5 per cent to 69.3 million units, according to IDC.
Earlier this week, data from research firm Counterpoint showed Apple’s smartphone shipments in China tumbled 19 per cent in the first quarter of the year, the worst performance since 2020.
— Reuters
