Recently, Apple made public it’s holiday quarterly earnings where it was revealed that the poor sale of the iPhones in China is the main reason why the company’s quarterly revenues fall of expectations. Market firm IDC had estimated that the iPhone’s sale in China is poor and it will remain so for a while. In China, iPhone sales have fallen at twice the overall decline in the smartphone market. Although China’s smartphone shipments fell by 9.7%, iPhone shipments fell by nearly 20%. A report released by IDC on Monday showed that Apple’s shipments in China fell by 19.9% in the fourth quarter, but its ranking in smartphone shipments rose from fifth to fourth.
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IDC believes that while the Chinese smartphone market is shrinking, Apple is not aware of the problems caused by pushing up the iPhone price. Analysts said that Apple CEO may have masked the company’s strategic mistakes in China’s and the impact of fierce competition from fast-growing Chinese Android phone makers is not helping issues for Apple. Apple’s latest iPhone faces serious challenges from Chinese branded phones, which are priced at half or one-third of Apple’s. IDC said: “The imbalance between the increasingly severe domestic market environment and the high pricing of Apple products has led to a decline in iPhone shipments in the Chinese market.”
Some analysts have suggested that the iPhone SE 2 will be a good solution. Rumor has it that Apple has rejected the plan, but the poor holiday quarter results led to speculation that the company may have to reconsider the launch of the second-generation iPhone SE.