Is Apple's time coming to an end?
Counterpoint's latest third-quarter smartphone sales in China show that Apple's mobile phone sales in the Chinese market fell 10% year-on-year in the third quarter, and its market share fell to 14.2%, ranking fourth, the top three were Honor, vivi, and OPPO, while Huawei ranked sixth with a market share of 12.9%, with sales up 37% year-on-year.
Ivan Lam, senior analyst at Counterpoint, said: "The reason for the decline in iPhone sales is that the channel cut prices in advance, and the subsequent official price adjustment failed to save sales in time due to missing the time window." In addition, the iPhone 15 series did not perform as well as the iPhone 14 series due to supply constraints in the early days of its release.
Since 1991, Apple has partnered with Peking University to establish its first Apple Center in Beijing, and has since gradually expanded its presence and share in the Chinese market.
In 2007, Apple launched the iPhone, which attracted global attention.
In 2008, Apple officially entered the Chinese market with the opening of its first directly-operated retail store in Beijing. Since then, Apple's mobile phone sales in the Chinese market have maintained a trend of rising year after year.
Between 2017 and 2020, Huawei's phones posed a serious challenge to Apple, with sales in Greater China less than half of their peak. Of course, Apple has also successfully risen in the Chinese market through continuous innovation and localization strategies, and has become one of the favorite brands of consumers.
At present, China, as Apple's largest consumer market in the world, has experienced several twists and turns in its development process:
With the rise of local brands in China, such as Honor, vivo, OPPO, etc., Apple is facing increasingly fierce market competition. These brands have attracted a large number of consumers through innovation and improving the value for money of their products, especially in third- and fourth-tier cities and rural areas, and Apple's market share has been further eroded. According to the Counterpoint report, one reason for the decline in iPhone sales is the channel's early price cuts. This may be due to Apple's misjudgment of market trends, which led to its price adjustment strategy failing to salvage sales in time. In addition, the overall sales performance was also affected by the limited supply of the new product in the early stage of the new product launch, which did not perform as well as the previous generation.
In recent years, Apple's pace of product innovation has slowed, and while the design and user experience of its products are still excellent, the lack of breakthrough new features or changes may have lost its appeal to consumers who are looking for freshness.
With the continuous development of China's economy, the purchasing power of consumers has increased significantly. However, as the smartphone market saturated, consumers' demand for mobile phones has also changed. They no longer just pursue the luxury and coolness of the brand, but pay more attention to the practicality and cost-effectiveness of the product.
In recent years, Apple has been relatively slow and indifferent in dealing with some sensitive events, which has affected its brand image in the Chinese market to a certain extent. For example, Apple's failure to respond in a timely and effective manner to data security issues for Chinese users has undoubtedly weakened its brand influence.
With the rise of online sales, Apple also needs to adapt to this trend and adjust its channel strategy accordingly. However, at the moment, it seems that Apple's layout in the online market has not achieved the expected effect, which has also had an impact on its overall sales performance.
Supply chain issues on a global scale have also had an impact on Apple's sales. For example, supply chain disruptions and chip shortages caused by the epidemic have limited Apple's production and supply, which has also affected its sales performance in China to a certain extent.
While the Chinese market is becoming increasingly important to Apple, Cook believes that the Indian market is where there is great potential for growth today, and Apple is fully supporting the rise of the Indian market.
Apple is already working with Indian partners to produce iPhones locally. These partners include Wistron and Foxconn, who have already set up factories in India and started producing iPhones.
It plans to expand its production in India to about 1 million units per week in the coming months, which will make it one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the Indian market.
The first retail store will also be opened in India in the coming months, which will further expand its presence in the local market.
The plan is to launch a localized product for the Indian market, which will allow it to better meet the needs of local consumers. And cooperate with local Internet companies and technology enterprises in India to further expand its presence in the local market.
Written by: A Fish Editor: Amy Producer: Global Entrepreneurial Figures
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