Photo: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Apple’s struggles in China continue. In Q1 2025, the company fell to fifth place, despite the overall smartphone market growing by 3.3%.
Huawei and Oppo made the most of Apple’s fall, registering double-digit growth.
Xiaomi and Huawei gained at Apple’s expense
In a report from earlier this week, IDC’s preliminary data indicated Apple led the global smartphone market in Q1 2025. The market itself grew by 1.5%, while Apple recorded a growth of 10%. It shipped 57.9 million iPhones, up from 52.6 million in the same quarter last year.
Despite this impressive growth, Apple has seen a significant decline in iPhone sales in China. A new IDC report backs up those rumors. It suggests that Apple lost 9% market share in Q1 2025, with iPhone shipments declining to 9.8 million units. That’s a million units less than Q1 2024.
Photo: IDC
While the global smartphone market grew by 1.5%, the Chinese market registered a higher growth of 3.3%. This was due to the Chinese government offering subsidies on smartphones in January 2025, followed by the Spring Festival in February. Xiaomi made the most of the government subsidies, topping the market and shipping 13.3 million smartphones in the quarter. That’s a whopping 39.9% growth from 2024 Q1.
Discounts failed to boost iPhone sales
iPhones did not qualify for government subsidies, but Apple offered its own discounts in China to bolster sales. It seems the move had little impact. This was not the case in 2024, when iPhone sales rebounded following hefty discounts.
Huawei came second, shipping 12.9 million phones and capturing 18% market share. Oppo and Vivo were third and fourth, respectively, shipping 11.2 million and 10.3 million smartphones.
While IDC’s report is based on preliminary data, it should still give a fair idea of the Chinese smartphone market. With the trade war between the US and China intensifying and tough competition from Chinese players, Apple will likely see a further decline in iPhone sales in the coming quarters.