Apple falls to fifth place in China

Fewer and fewer users in China are purchasing iPhones according to market observers at Counterpointresearch.com. Both Apple and its smartphone products in particular have been decreasing in popularity over the past few months. In May of this year, for example, the Cupertino company made up 10.8 percent of all smartphones sold in the region compared to 12 percent the same time last year. The drop off was enough to swiftly bump Apple down to fifth place on the list of the largest smartphone providers in China.

Apple has also been facing legal and regulatory setbacks with local market restrictions to further impede on sales numbers. Certain iPhone 6 SKUs, for example, have been banned by the Chinese government. Meanwhile, Huawei has grown to be the largest smartphone manufacturer in China with 17.3 percent of the market. Other manufacturers ahead of Apple include Vivo, Oppo, and even Xiaomi. Together, with Huawei, these Apple competitors make up 53 percent of the Chinese smartphone market as pointed out by Counterpoint Research Director Neil Shah.

As for regions immediately adjacent to China, sales of the iPhone have dropped by as much as 26 percent as of March 2016 in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.

Data from independent market research firm TrendForce shows similar results, but with one significant difference. According to TrendForce, Apple is not even on the top five list as Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Lenovo, and Xiaomi have occupied all slots.

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