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The United States is no longer the biggest iPhone market for Apple. According to the semiconductor industry information platform TechInsights, China has finally replaced the Western country for the first time in the second quarter of 2023.
The change in the ranking of the two markets is somewhat expected, nonetheless, with the overall smartphone market in distress for a while now. Sony, Apple’s camera sensor supplier, specifically mentioned China and US being the biggest markets affected by this issue in its recent report. Despite this, the challenging smartphone climate allowed China to replace the US as the leading iPhone market for Apple. According to an earlier International Data Corp. report, iPhones reached 6.1% YOY growth despite an overall smartphone shipment drop in the 2023 Q2 Chinese market.
According to the report by the firm, the change happened alongside the iPhone shipment decline in the said quarter. “Apple iPhone shipments declined -9.3% YoY in Q2 2023 to reach 43.1 million units and 16.0% market share,” TechInsights’ report reads. “This is the highest second quarter annual decline for the vendor in the last 8 years from 2016 till 2023. Apart from macroeconomic factors, no newly launched iPhone SE model in 2023 compared to one in 2022 adds to the decline this quarter. Also, tepid demand in North America, Western Europe and Japan is largely attributable to Apple’s mixed performance.”
Meanwhile, TechInsights also underscored the entrance of India in the top 5 biggest iPhone markets, as first revealed by Counterpoint Research in a previous report. According to the research firm in July, India accounted for 4% of all iPhone sales of Apple in the second quarter of this year. This translates to a 50% year-on-year growth, adding Apple’s influence in the Indian market has been growing. As the research firm noted, Apple garnered a total of 5.1% share in India’s overall smartphone market by the end of June. This is expected to continue as Apple continues to penetrate the Indian market, with more partners investing in iPhone-related plants in the country.
In the end, TechInsights’ report expressed support for the rumored price increase in iPhone models in the next releases. The firm cited the different improvements coming to the iPhone models (e.g., thinner bezel and titanium alloy material) as one of the probable reasons for the hike.
