14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is getting ready to introduce a new-generation iPhone that’s supposed to reignite sales of the device after several declining quarters, but bringing the iPhone back to growth is going to be one very challenging mission for the company, given the current trends in the largest markets.
Living proof is none other than China, one of the countries that Apple considers to be top priorities but that seem to be losing interest in iPhones lately. And given the changes coming on the next model, the same dropping trend is likely to be maintained.
Statistics provided by Digitimes show that smartphone sales have increased in China in the second quarter of 2016, but the only problem for Apple is that demand for iPhones has declined, and fewer buyers seem to be interested in getting one.
The Chinese market reached 149 million sold units during the quarter, an increase of 2.7 percent from the previous quarter and no less than 14.3 percent versus the same period the year before, but Apple seems to be left out of the celebration.
New iPhone coming next month
Apple is only the fifth company in terms of smartphone sales, with its stats dropping to a single-digit figure for the first time. Furthermore, Cupertino is struggling to stay close to competitors, most of them posting increasing sales for the last quarters.
Huawei has become the leading company in China with 14 percent of the market, followed by Oppo with 12.7 percent, and Vivo with 11.2 percent. Xiaomi is just ahead of Apple with 10.4 percent, but once again, sales of the iPhone are declining, while all these companies are growing every quarter.
And yet, there’s still hope that Apple could return to growth with the release of the next-generation iPhone, despite the fact that analysts don’t expect strong performance of this particular model. The upcoming iPhone will be very similar in terms of design to the existing lineup, but it will include some hardware upgrades, such as a dual-camera system on the Plus model.
Apple is believed to be holding back more significant upgrades for next year’s iPhone when the company celebrates the device’s 10th anniversary and is expected to introduce a bigger overhaul.