Apple Q117 Smartphone Shipments in China Down 14.4% Y/Y
May 15, 2017

For Apple in 2016 and in Q117, the main dark spot was Greater China, which was the only region where revenues suffered a revenue decline, 14% Y/Y. Every other region grew strongly. Too bad it’s the largest market by far in the world. During the recent conference call, Apple management danced around the issue of the PRC pointing to weakness in Hong Kong, but not admitting weakness in the PRC other than the usual currency headwinds. And while Apple doesn’t break out iPhone sales by region, sales suffer roughly the same decline as overall revenue. Counterpoint Research released its market share data for China.
 
Figure 1:  Q117—China’s Smartphone Shipment Growth

Source: Counterpoint


​Table 1: Smartphone Shipment in China

Source: Counterpoint

Counterpoint's data continues to show the explosive growth of the domestic Oppo and Vivo brands. Apple's problem in the PRC centers on the fact that Oppo, Vivo and One Plus are owned by the same company, BBK Electronics, and that BBK is a pseudo state-owned enterprise.
 
Table 2: Worldwide Smartphone Shipments by Supplier

Source: Canaccord, OLED-A
 
Table 3: Share of Total Shipment Sold in China

Source: OLED-A

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