iPhone Share Drops in China for First Time

Alan Patterson, EETimes, Feb. 08, 2017 – 

TAIPEI - Apple's share of China's smartphone market has dropped for the first time as consumers in the world's most populous nation show a growing acceptance of locally made handsets, according to market research firm IDC.

The four biggest Chinese companies in the ranking saw their share increase to 57 percent in 2016 from 46 percent in 2015, IDC said in a press statement. In 2016, the world's largest smartphone market grew by 9 percent annually and 17 percent in the fourth quarter from the third quarter, according to IDC.

Last year was the first time that Apple saw an annual decline in the Chinese market, according to IDC. The world's largest company saw its iPhone shipments slip to 44.9 million units in 2016 from 58.4 million units in 2015 as its market share dropped 4 percentage points to 9.6 percent.

China's leading vendors in 2016 were Oppo, Huawei and Vivo. Oppo sold 78.4 million units in the China market, topping Huawei's 76.6 million.

 Back