apple The iPhone smartphone is facing more intense competition in the Chinese market. In the second quarter of this year, iPhone sales fell out of the top five in China for the first time.

On July 26, research firm IDC reported that Apple’s iPhone shipments fell 3.1% in the second quarter, and its sales ranking in the Chinese market fell out of the top five.

Just the day before, market research firm Canalys also released a report saying that Apple's iPhone shipments ranked sixth in the second quarter of this year, with a market share of 14% down 2% year-on-year. The top five are Vivo, OPPO, Honor, Huawei and Xiaomi. .

Canalys data shows that Apple's total shipments in China in the quarter ending June were 9.7 million units, down from 10.4 million units in the same period last year. In contrast, Huawei's smartphone shipments increased 41% year-on-year to 10.6 million units in the quarter, thanks to the launch of the new Pura 70 series in April.

At the same time, China's smartphone market is experiencing three consecutive quarters of growth. According to IDC data, in the second quarter, China's smartphone shipments returned to above 70 million units, increasing 8.9% to 71.6 million units.

"Domestic manufacturers have demonstrated their market leadership. For the first time in history, the top five smartphone brands in mainland China are all domestic brands," said Zhong Xiaolei, a research analyst at Canalys. "Apple faces growth pressure in the Chinese market and is actively focusing on optimizing channel management."

To boost sales, Apple has increased discounts in China this year to attract consumers. In a promotion launched in May, Apple's phone prices were doubled compared to a promotion in February, with some iPhone models cut by as much as 2,300 yuan.

On the other hand, the sales of Vision Pro, Apple's first hybrid virtual reality headset, have not been satisfactory since it landed in the Chinese market at the end of June this year. The reporter from China Business News learned from an Apple store that Vision Pro is still available for purchase and can be returned within 14 days.

One of the big issues Apple faces with Vision Pro is app development. The number of apps available for Vision Pro is very limited compared to the number of apps developed in the first few months after the iPhone and iPad were launched.

Apple recently said that five months after the Vision Pro was launched in the U.S., more than 2,000 apps had been developed for the device. By comparison, Apple had 20,000 apps available for the iPad a few months after it was first released.

“The overall trajectory of Vision Pro, which launched in February, has been much slower than many had hoped,” said George Jijiashvili, an analyst at market tracker Omdia. “The reality is that most developers’ time and money will be invested in platforms with billions of users, not devices with tens or hundreds of thousands of users.”

While Apple is confident that the Vision Pro will change the way millions of people work and play, analysts expect that to take a long time to materialize. Omdia predicts that Apple will sell about 350,000 Vision Pro devices this year, rising to 750,000 next year and 1.7 million in 2026, but that's well below the iPad sales, which sold nearly 20 million units in its first year.

According to IDC estimates, Apple shipped less than 100,000 Vision Pro units in the first quarter, less than half of the sales of its competitor Meta Quest headset. Despite this, due to its high price, Vision Pro accounts for more than 50% of the sales of the entire VR headset market. IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo said: "No matter what the price, the success of Vision Pro will ultimately depend on the content available."

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