Apple is one of the most prominent mobile players in China, and that's something Samsung can't say about itself. But despite Apple seemingly climbing the food pyramid in China over the years, the iPhone 15 series might underperform.
The iPhone maker is reportedly seeing a slump in sales for the iPhone 15 series in China, failing to meet expectations set by pre-order records and iPhone 14 sales last year.
Counterpoint Research data shows that for the first 17 days of market availability, iPhone 15 sales in China were down 4.5% compared to the iPhone 14 lineup.
And according to more data gathered by Bloomberg (via GSMArena), other market watchers agree that the iPhone 15 lineup isn't performing according to expectations. Jefferies analysts estimate that sales for the iPhone 15 series are down by double-digits compared to the 2022 models.
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Apple is facing the threat of Huawei
Although Apple's biggest threat in most markets is Samsung, that's far from the truth in China, where Samsung has failed to capitalize on the market and count itself among the top phone manufacturers.
Instead, market watchers estimate that Apple's biggest competitor in China in 2023 might be Huawei, whose Mate 60 series supposedly outsold the iPhone 15 series. Because of this turn of events, market watchers suspect Huawei might be able to take Apple's spot in China next year.
As for Samsung, the company's sales in China hit an all-time low in Q1 2023, despite the fact that the Galaxy S23 series is a hit by other accounts in most other markets.
