New data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) shows smartphone shipments declined in February compared to the year-ago period. Here’s what that could mean for Apple and the iPhone.
Smartphone sales in China keep trending down
According to the report (via Sina Finance), China’s smartphone market totaled 16.3 million shipments in February, down 12.6% year over year, and 36.9 million units across January and February, down 14.3%.
CAICT says that domestic brands accounted for 85.5% of China’s smartphone shipments in February, with volumes falling 15.7% year over year to 14.4 million units.
This leaves roughly 1.9 million units attributed to foreign brands, including Apple, which is often the only non-Chinese company to appear among top sellers.
In fact, a recent report from Counterpoint Research found that Apple was once again the only non-Chinese company to rank among the top-selling smartphone brands in China in January 2026.
The report also noted that overall smartphone sales in the country had fallen 23% year over year that month, with Apple countering the downward trend with an 8% bump in shipments.
Interestingly, Counterpoint also recently said that Apple saw a 23% jump in iPhone sales in China in the nine weeks from January to early March, while the rest of the market saw a 4% decline.
So, while there seem to be conflicting numbers regarding Apple’s position in the Chinese smartphone market, the reports do seem to agree on a significant slowdown in overall consumer demand, be that for domestic or foreign brands.
That said, it will be interesting to see whether the iPhone 17e, which launched in China on March 11 and will likely qualify for government incentives, can lift Apple’s performance in the coming months, regardless of broader market trends.
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