Research from Counterpoint shows sales of the iPhone 16 in China rose 20 percent in the three weeks since their launch

Sales of Apple’s iPhone 16 have gotten off to a strong start in China, in some welcome news for the tech giant in one of its most important markets.

The iPhone 16 launched in September, and there are encouraging signs of momentum in China according to market researcher Counterpoint Research, after the previous iPhone 15 lineup struggled against stiff local competition.

In July Canalys found that Apple (with the iPhone 15) had dropped out of the top five in the mainland China smartphone market in the second quarter, behind local smartphone brands, even as the market grew 10 percent year-on-year, with shipments exceeding 70 million units.

China sales

Now Reuters, citing the data from Counterpoint, found that Apple’s new iPhones got off to a strong start in China, with their sales rising 20 percent in their first three weeks since their 20 September launch, compared to the 2023 line up.

“We’re seeing strong iPhone 16 series unit sales in China,” Counterpoint was quoted as saying, adding the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models were doing particularly well, with their combined sales rising 44 percent compared with their equivalent 2023 versions.

Overall iPhone unit sales in China, however, dropped 2 percent year on year during the three-week period because of decreased sales of older models and increased competition with Huawei’s Mate and Pura series, it reportedly said.

Both Apple and Huawei’s latest smartphones went on sale in China on 20 September.

Earlier this week research firm CINNO found that Huawei had surpassed Apple in smartphone shipments in mainland China in August for the first time in 46 months, or nearly four years.

This was before Apple released the iPhone 16 in September.

China’s importance

In August Apple in its third quarter results revealed that overall sales of the Apple iPhone also improved in the third quarter, falling just 0.9 percent to $39.3bn, compared with the 2.2 percent drop analysts had expected.

But there was no getting away from the fact that sales in China, Apple’s third largest market, declined 6.5 percent.

Apple of course paid the price of having to discount its iPhones in China in the face of intense competition from cheaper domestic smartphones from the likes of Vivo, Oppo, and Huawei.

Earlier this week Apple opened its largest research and development lab outside the United States in the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen, as it seeks to bolster its position in the world’s largest smartphone market.