How iPhones made a surprise comeback in China

After a long time After the recession, Apple’s business suddenly began to boom again in China. The tech giant said in its latest earnings report last week that revenue from the country rose 38 percent year-on-year in the latest quarter, driven primarily by a rise in… Demand for iPhones. The recovery came after Apple China sales It fell for 18 consecutive months between 2024 and early 2025.

On 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. “All in all, a great quarter in China. We couldn’t be happier with it,” Cook concluded in his characteristic monotone voice.

Apple’s impressive performance came as a surprise to many observers of the Chinese smartphone market. In recent years, Local brands Like Huawei and Xiaomi, they have managed to chip away at Apple’s market share by launching premium, feature-packed devices Compete directly With iPhone. For example, Huawei surprised the tech industry when it launched a $2,800 smartphone with a tri-fold display in September 2024. Before long Competitors offer similar products.

The most surprising thing about Apple’s return to China is the way it has succeeded. Instead of trying to compete by developing flashier technology, it simply released a powerful, competitively priced new iPhone, experts tell WIRED. Although there are devices from local brands that technically have better cameras and more advanced AI capabilities (Apple Intelligence is not yet available in mainland China), many buyers are still opting for Apple’s iPhone 17 line.

This suggests that Chinese consumers still care more about Apple’s brand strength 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 owes much of its success in China last quarter to baseline sales iPhone 17 model. Traditionally, consumers who buy iPhones at launch tend to gravitate toward the high-end Pro and Pro Max devices, but in 2025, the entry-level iPhone 17 represents a much bigger step up from the iPhone 16 than usual, including features traditionally only associated with the Pro series. Schneemann says this may have motivated more people to upgrade their phones sooner than usual after new phones appeared.

But Apple’s product strategy wasn’t the only important factor here. The price of the iPhone 17 was low enough to qualify for a massive electronics subsidy program launched by the Chinese government last year. To help stimulate the economy, Beijing spent about $43 billion to support domestic purchases of electronics, appliances and cars in 2025. Smartphones sold for less than 6,000 Chinese yuan (about $860) were eligible for a discount of up to 15%. Apple has listed the iPhone 17 in China at a price of CNY 5,999, ensuring that price-sensitive buyers will be able to take advantage of the government’s policy.

The government support also arrived at a time when many Chinese iPhone users were likely to upgrade anyway. “Apple’s last peak sales period came with the iPhone 13 series, and after a period of three to four years, its existing users have gradually entered the upgrade cycle this year,” says Arthur Gu, research director at Beijing-based global market analysis firm IDC.

None of these explanations suggest that Apple’s Chinese competitors are doing anything wrong. Local brands have also seen significant growth recently, Guo notes. Expensive flagship models from brands like Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo “remained strong across the board – with more notable growth recorded for the pricier Pro/Pro Max variants,” says Guo.