Huawei 'attacked', Apple has more headaches in China

CEO Tim Cook last month visited China - Apple's largest foreign market, on the occasion of opening the 8th Apple Store in the country. Videos posted to his Weibo account show him being applauded by fans as he opened a new store in Shanghai's Jing'an district, taking iPhone selfies with famous models and strolling the Bund in style. history.

" Every time I come to China, I can feel the unique charm here. Thank you very much for the warm welcome ," Cook wrote in a social media post.

However, the Apple CEO was actually facing a big dilemma in China at the time he posted the video last month: iPhone sales were down at an alarming rate - 24% in the first 6 weeks of the year. compared to the same period last year, according to data from Counterpoint Research.

Huawei 'attacked', Apple has more headaches in China Picture 1

And despite Apple's aggressive PR tactics, the company's upcoming revenues may be threatened in even more serious ways.

Who is the most dangerous threat?

On April 18, Huawei released a new line of flagship phones called Pura 70. They are equipped with an advanced new camera system that looks similar to the trio of lenses on the back of iPhone Pro models and have a starting price of just 760 USD.

But Huawei's "explosive magic show" immediately afterward made Apple and its competitors "dizzy": In just 1 minute of launching the livestream sale on the company's online store, the two lines Pura 70 Ultra and Pura 70 Pro has been completely sold out.

The Pura 70 series is said to give Huawei a new opportunity to gain Apple's growing market share in the largest smartphone market on the planet. The company has captured the hearts of a large number of consumers since launching the Mate 60 Pro series last year.

The Mate 60 Pro owns a domestically produced chip line, which has helped Huawei make huge profits in China by equipping features that compete with those found on the iPhone. Now, it is believed that they will also be present in the new Pura 70 devices, Reuters reports.

Counterpoint estimates that Huawei's smartphone sales increased by 64% in the first 6 weeks of the year. Pura 70 could continue that momentum. Ivan Lam, senior analyst at Counterpoint, told Reuters that Huawei could nearly double the number of phones shipped this year, to 60 million units.

Of course, this is not what Apple wants to hear.

China has been the most important international market for many years, but it is threatened by the rise of domestic competitors that can lure domestic consumers with devices with interfaces similar to the iPhone. .

Apple is showing its weakness against domestic competition in China. Net sales in the Greater China region were $20.8 billion in the last three months of last year, down from $23.9 billion in the same period in 2022.

And yet, Wedbush analysts wrote last week that Apple is struggling with difficult smartphone demand in China. They predicted a decline in iPhone sales in the region in Apple's quarterly earnings report on May 2.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 20 April 2024