Apple recovers its footing in China

After several years of shrinking share in China's hyper-competitive smartphone market, Apple appears to be regaining ground. E‑commerce indicators show a noticeable improvement in both online sales volume and value since October.

We've visualized month-by-month data from Moojing Market Intelligence, which tracks more than 65% of China’s e‑commerce ecosystem.

The latest readings show Apple steadily climbing back in both volume and value terms versus rivals such as China's MIUI and Huawei. Apple has long had the largest share of the market in value terms, as our first chart shows -- reflecting the high relative price of iPhones, and how that translates into disproportionate revenue dominance. But its share on this basis peaked at about 55% versus peers charted in 2023, slipping to about 45% two years later as Huawei gained ground and mid-tier brands proliferated.

 In volume terms, Apple has long trailed the popularity of MIUI's lower-cost handsets. As our second chart shows, Huawei also surpassed Apple on this basis for much of 2025. (While Apple has regained ground, it shipped about 43 million units to online shoppers in January, Moojing data shows -- down from almost 78 million at the start of 2022.) 

Apple's most recent figures echo this turning trend. Revenue from its "Greater China" segment jumped 38% year‑on‑year in the most recent quarter. The revival has been driven largely by the iPhone 17, whose launch appears to have rekindled enthusiasm among premium buyers.

Apple's iPhone 17 base model was priced at RMB 5,999 (the equivalent of about USD 850 at the time). Our third chart shows just how much more expensive Apple devices are versus local brands; not only are they more than double the average online sale price for Honor and Vivo phones, but Apple's pricing continues to creep higher as other brands flatline. The ability to sustain pricing power in China is no small feat as the local smartphone market matures.

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