Chinese sales of foreign phone makers, including Apple, drop 9.7% in May

iPhone 16 phones are seen on display. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

BEIJING — Sales of foreign-branded mobile phones in China, including those of Apple Inc, fell 9.7 per cent year-on-year in May, according to data released by a government-affiliated research company on Friday.

Calculations based on the data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) showed that May shipments of foreign-branded phones in China fell to 4.54 million handsets from the same month last year.

As the largest foreign mobile phone maker in China’s smartphone-dominated market, Apple’s performance plays a significant role in the overall data on foreign-branded phone sales in the country.

Apple has faced increased competition from domestic rivals and has cut prices to stay competitive. Chinese e-commerce platforms offered discounts of up to 2,530 yuan (US$351) on Apple’s latest iPhone 16 models in May.

The CAICT data did not give specific figures for Apple.

Shipments of phones within China were down 21.8 per cent year-on-year to 23.72 million handsets for the month, the data showed.

(Reporting by Liam Mo and Brenda Goh. Editing by Aidan Lewis and Mark Potter)