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Apple is shedding market share in China resulting from declining iPhone shipments, provide chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote in a report on Friday. The inventory slid 2.4%.
“Apple has adopted a cautious stance when discussing 2025 iPhone manufacturing plans with key suppliers,” Kuo, an analyst at TF Securities, wrote within the post. He added that regardless of the anticipated launch of the brand new iPhone SE 4, shipments are anticipated to say no 6% yr over yr for the primary half of 2025.
Kuo expects Apple’s market share to proceed to slip, as two of the approaching iPhones are so skinny that they seemingly will solely assist eSIM, which the Chinese market at present doesn’t promote.
“These two fashions may face delivery momentum challenges except their design is modified,” he wrote.
Kuo wrote that in December, general smartphone shipments in China had been flat from a yr earlier, however iPhone shipments dropped 10% to 12%.
There can also be “no proof” that Apple Intelligence, the corporate’s on-device artificial intelligence providing, is driving {hardware} upgrades or providers income, in line with Kuo. He wrote that the characteristic “has not boosted iPhone alternative demand,” in line with a provide chain survey he performed, and added that in his view, the characteristic’s enchantment “has considerably declined in comparison with cloud-based AI providers, which have superior quickly in subsequent months.”
Apple’s estimated iPhone shipments complete about 220 million items for 2024 and between about 220 million and 225 million for this yr, Kuo wrote. That is “under the market consensus of 240 million or extra,” he wrote.
Apple didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for remark.
