Reasons why the iPhone 16 is likely to lose ground in China.

Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 16 on September 9th (California time, which is September 10th in China). Almost simultaneously, Huawei will hold an event to unveil its triple-folding smartphone with two hinges.

Richard Yu Chengdong, President of Huawei's global business group, said the company will launch its "leading, innovative, and groundbreaking" product at an event scheduled for September 10 (China time).

Apple has faced increasing pressure in China, one of the company's most important markets, having recently fallen out of the top five largest shipment suppliers there.

The company's challenges could be exacerbated with the iPhone 16 due to uncertainty surrounding the availability of Apple Intelligence (the new artificial intelligence (AI) system integrated into iPhones, iPads, and Macs) in China.

China's ban on ChatGPT means that some of Apple Intelligence's features will not be available in China.

Ivan Lam, a senior analyst at consulting firm Counterpoint Research, said: "The iPhone will continue to see market share erosion in the premium segment by Huawei and other Chinese brands."

According to Counterpoint data, Apple's sales in the Chinese market declined 5.7% in the second quarter of this year, although overall sales worldwide increased 6% during the same period due to recovering consumer demand.

All major Chinese smartphone brands experienced growth in the second quarter except for Oppo, whose sales fell by nearly 10%.

Huawei experienced the biggest growth in the quarter, increasing by over 44%, thanks to the launch of the Pura 70 and Nova 12 product lines.

To date, China has approved more than 180 GenAI products, all developed by local companies.

Apple Intelligence aims to improve Apple's Siri virtual assistant, enabling better contextual awareness and allowing for better answers to user queries. Other AI features include assisting users in composing emails and editing images.

Some companies are partnering with local providers to offer AI services on their devices. For example, Samsung Electronics is using the Ernie big language model developed by Baidu for its Galaxy line.

To date, Apple has given no indication of how it will incorporate AI into its new products in China. According to Lucas Zhong, an analyst at Canalys, this could put Apple at a disadvantage as competitors race to integrate AI into their smartphones.

However, according to Ivan Lam, pent-up demand from people wanting to upgrade their iPhones could still help boost new phone sales in China. He added that sales could be "slightly higher" in the second half of 2024 than a year earlier.

Source: https://laodong.vn/cong-nghe/ly-do-iphone-16-de-that-the-tai-trung-quoc-1389123.ldo