Korean Media: China's Smartphone Market Experiences Negative Growth, Apple Rises Alone!
On April 29, South Korean media outlet Today's Finance published an article stating that China's smartphone market growth has slowed down, yet Apple achieved growth.
According to data released by market research firm Counterpoint Research, smartphone sales in China declined by 4% year-on-year in January and February this year. This is primarily due to weak overall demand and less active promotional activities during the Spring Festival compared to the same period last year.
Counterpoint Research assessed that "despite subsidies introduced at the beginning of the year, market performance in the first two months indicates limited effectiveness of these subsidies, and full recovery of demand has not yet been realized."
Due to promotional activities by Chinese brands during the Spring Festival period, sales increased compared to January. However, limited discounts resulted from soaring memory prices, leading to a 2% decline in sales for the entire period—including the Spring Festival and the three weeks preceding it—compared to the same period last year.
Continued increases in memory prices have been passed on to downstream manufacturers. As a result, several major manufacturers, including OPPO and vivo, have officially announced price hikes for certain models.
In contrast, Apple posted the highest growth rate, with a year-on-year increase of 23% over the first nine weeks. Counterpoint Research analysis attributes this mainly to e-commerce discounts and the inclusion of the standard iPhone 17 in subsidy programs.
Thanks to its strong control over the supply chain, Apple is able to effectively manage the current situation of rising memory prices. While Android manufacturers have signaled price increases, Apple is expected to refrain from raising prices and instead absorb part of its profit margin to seize opportunities for expanding market share.
Given Huawei’s heavy reliance on domestic suppliers, even amid global memory price increases, its cost burden remains relatively low. Based on this advantage, Huawei may expand its market share in the mid-to-low price segment.
It is expected that the Chinese smartphone market will continue facing pressure before May this year, but a partial recovery trend may emerge starting around the 618 shopping festival kicking off in early June.
Counterpoint Research stated: "The trend of rising memory prices is likely to persist throughout this year, meaning smartphone manufacturers will continue facing difficult trade-offs among costs, profitability, and shipment targets."
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1863769317398730/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.