Apple has encountered negative news.
On March 6th, a reporter from China Securities News learned that market research firm Counterpoint Research recently released a report showing that Apple's iPhone sales in China decreased by 24% year-on-year in the first six weeks of 2024.
The institution believes that Apple's own mobile phone product innovation is insufficient, coupled with domestic mobile phone manufacturers increasing investment in the high-end mobile phone market, Apple's sales have been impacted.
Increased market competition
Counterpoint Research believes that the decline in Apple's sales is due to fierce market competition and an unusually high sales base in January 2023. On Tuesday local time, Apple's stock price fell 2.84%, dragging down the stock prices of US listed suppliers such as Qorvo and Broadcom.
Apple's recent performance in the Chinese market has been poor. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Apple's iPhone sales in the Chinese market decreased. According to IDC data, although Apple's iPhone shipment volume ranks first in the Chinese market, it has decreased by 2.1% year-on-year under the impact of competitors.
According to a research report by Everbright Securities, iPhone revenue is mainly driven by the average price increase of the iPhone 15 series, and its sales are not optimistic, leading to intensified competition in the high-end smartphone market.
IDC believes that Apple has been significantly impacted by competitors in the domestic high-end market, with limited product upgrades, resulting in a decrease in attractiveness. But the significant price reduction and promotion activities on third-party channels have still attracted a lot of consumer demand.
Apple encounters consecutive negative news
It is worth noting that Apple has been receiving continuous negative news recently. Goldman Sachs has removed Apple from its "best buy list" due to poor stock performance and market concerns about weak demand for its main products.
On February 28th, it was revealed that Apple had decided to cancel its electric vehicle project, which had been ongoing for over a decade. This decision surprised nearly 2000 employees involved in the project. It is understood that many employees in the team responsible for automobiles will be transferred to the artificial intelligence department, and these employees will focus on Generative Artificial Intelligence (AIGC) projects, which is an increasingly critical priority for Apple.
In terms of wearable products, Apple released the Vision Pro space computing device in June 2023, and the product was officially released in 2024. February 16th was the expiration date of the trial period for Apple's first head mounted display device, Vision Pro, but it was revealed that the first batch of Vision Pro users had returned a large number.
