TECH NEWS – Apple will also have trouble launching Apple Intelligence in the Asian country, so it won’t be easy to turn things around from here.
According to the latest market data, the iPhone is no longer the best-selling smartphone in China, while the Cupertino-based company is also trying to launch artificial intelligence features in the country. Canalys reported that in the last quarter of 2024, iPhone shipments in China dropped by 25% compared to the previous year!
This means that the iPhone, which was in first place last time, has been relegated to third place. Oppo and Honor lead with a 15% share, and by comparison, the iPhone still had a 19% market share in 2023. While many blame increased competition as one of the reasons for the decline, the Financial Times cites the company’s inability to introduce Apple Intelligence features as a key factor that led to this unfortunate situation.
“The figures come as the US technology company faces growing pressure from local premium smartphone brands, particularly Huawei, which have benefited from patriotic buying and the ability to introduce artificial intelligence features to their devices. The company’s Apple Intelligence service is not available in mainland China,” the publication wrote.
Apple has been painstakingly working to strike a deal with a local Chinese company to introduce Apple Intelligence features, as the process in China is cumbersome and requires a local company to introduce such features. Although we have heard that Apple has (or is negotiating) a local deal with ByteDance or Tencent to use their AI models, this has not come to fruition and the struggle seems to be ongoing.
In any case, it seems that Huawei’s patriotic propaganda (backed by the Chinese Communist Party) has paid off, without which Apple would certainly not have lost its first place. The situation is unlikely to change in the short term.
Source: WCCFTech
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