How iPhones Made a Surprising Comeback in China
After a long time slump, Apple's business is suddenly booming again in China. The tech giant said in its latest earnings report last week that revenue from the country rose 38 percent year-over-year in the latest quarter, driven primarily by rising demand for iPhones. The rebound came to Apple's China sales had declined for 18 consecutive months between 2024 and early 2025.
In a call with analysts, CEO Tim Cook said Apple set a new record for iPhone upgrades among Chinese customers and saw double-digit growth in the number of users switching from other operating systems to iOS. “Overall, a great quarter in China. We couldn't be happier,” Cook concluded in his signature monotone voice.
Apple's fantastic performance came as a surprise to many observers of the Chinese smartphone market. In recent years, homegrown brands The likes of Huawei and Xiaomi have chipped away at Apple's market share by releasing premium, feature-packed devices that compete directly with the iPhone. Huawei, for example, surprised the tech industry when it released a $2,800 smartphone with a triple screen in September 2024, long before competitors put out similar products.
The most striking thing about Apple's comeback in China is how it pulled it off. Instead of trying to compete by developing flashy tech, it just released a new iPhone that's both powerful and competitively priced, experts tell WIRED. Even though there are devices from local brands that technically have better cameras and more sophisticated artificial intelligence capabilities (Apple Intelligence is not yet available in mainland China), many buyers have still opted for Apple's iPhone 17 line.
That suggests Chinese consumers care more about Apple's brand power and design features than marginal technical improvements. “It's a good story if you're Apple. It's the same old story if you're not Apple,” says Gerrit Schneemann, a senior analyst who covers Apple at Counterpoint, a global technology research firm.
Apple owed much of its success in China last quarter to sales of the baseline iPhone 17 model. Traditionally, consumers who buy iPhones at launch tend towards the higher-end Pro and Pro Max devices, but in 2025 the baseline iPhone 17 represented a much bigger step up from the iPhone 16 than usual, including features traditionally only associated with the Pro series. That may have motivated more people to upgrade earlier than usual after the new phones came out, Schneemann says.
But Apple's product strategy was not the only important factor here. The iPhone 17 was priced low enough to qualify for a huge electronics subsidy program launched by the Chinese government last year. To boost the economy, Beijing spent about $43 billion subsidizing domestic purchases of electronics, appliances and cars by 2025. Smartphones sold for less than 6,000 RMB (about $860) were eligible for up to a 15 percent discount. Apple listed the iPhone 17 in China for 5,999 RMB, ensuring that price-sensitive buyers can take advantage of the government policy.
The state subsidy also arrived at a time when many Chinese iPhone users probably needed an upgrade. “Apple's last peak sales period came with the iPhone 13 series, and after a span of three to four years, its existing users have gradually entered the upgrade cycle this year,” said Arthur Guo, a Beijing-based research manager at IDC, a global market analysis firm.
None of these explanations indicate that Apple's Chinese competitors are doing anything wrong. Guo notes that domestic markets have also experienced significant growth recently. Expensive flagship models from brands like Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo have “remained strong across the board – with even more notable growth recorded for the higher-priced Pro/Pro Max variants,” says Guo.
