• 2 min read
Apple jumps 24.4% in China as iPhone 17 prices hold
Apple was the fastest-growing smartphone brand in China in Q2 2026, even as the market fell 4.3% and IDC warned of a steeper slump ahead.
Image: MacRumors
Apple grew iPhone shipments in China by 24.4 percent year over year in Q2 2026, making it the fastest-growing smartphone brand in a market that still shrank overall, according to preliminary data from IDC.
China smartphone shipments fell 4.3 percent to about 66 million units, marking a fifth straight quarter of decline. Among major vendors, only Apple and Huawei posted growth, with Huawei up 19.4 percent. Apple’s market share rose from 13.9 percent to 18.1 percent, second only to Huawei’s 22.6 percent. Xiaomi saw the sharpest drop among large brands, with shipments down 21.7 percent.
IDC said the split largely came down to how vendors handled rising memory and component costs during the ongoing AI infrastructure buildout. Most Android brands raised prices from late March, while Apple and Huawei kept pricing steady and leaned on targeted promotions. Huawei also expanded its lineup further across price tiers.
Apple got an extra boost from its own messaging around future price hikes. IDC said early warnings of second-half 2026 increases pushed some customers to buy iPhone 17 models sooner.
“That gave hesitant buyers a reason to go ahead and purchase.”
The gain came despite a weak June. During China’s 618 shopping festival, smartphone sales fell nearly 15 percent compared with the same period in 2025.
Recommended reading
HMD may try to buy Lumia from Microsoft
IDC outlook for China smartphone sales
IDC expects conditions to worsen over the next couple of years. As vendors use up cheaper component inventory, the firm forecasts China’s year-over-year smartphone decline could widen to around 20 percent in the second half of 2026 — just as Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 18 Pro models and its first foldable iPhone.
The firm does not expect storage prices to ease meaningfully before 2027, and sees a broader recovery arriving only in 2028 or 2029. IDC’s view is that buyers are delaying upgrades rather than abandoning smartphones, setting up a replacement cycle later in the decade.
Gadgets Editor
Eli is obsessed with the tangible future. He reviews phones, wearables, and everything with a battery. Known for his rigorous testing protocols and unabashed teardowns, Eli has broken more review units than he cares to admit, all in the name of discovering the truth about durability and repairability.
via MacRumors
