iPhone sales slump despite booming smartphone market

April 15, 2024 - Flagging sales in China saw Apple iPhone shipments tumble 10% in the first quarter of 2024 – a worse than expected decline given a rebound in the industry overall.

Related Graphics

View More

Streaming wars drive content spending

Amazon staff to return to office

X (Twitter) loses 21 million users in Brazil ban

Global shortage of cocoa beans

U.S. election donations set to soar

Biggest box office weekend takings, summer 2024

Brain-controlled arm offers hope to amputees

The glory days of iron ore exports are over

Global bumper grain harvests see food prices fall

Starbucks replaces boss

Soaring gold price makes Olympic gold medals more valuable

Trump lags behind Harris with largest ever war chest

U.S. judge finds Google runs illegal search monopoly

Stocks rally after sell-off

Uncertain world markets trigger Nikkei index plunge

Paris is hosting a more cost-effective Olympics

“Deadpool & Wolverine” – one of 10 biggest movie openings

Tesla’s Q2 profits slump

Big orders for Boeing at Farnborough Airshow

Stegosaurus sets record at auction

Upskilling the global workforce

EU hikes tariffs on China’s EVs

Nvidia dethrones Microsoft and Apple

Russian assets to back Ukraine loan

Nvidia value hits $3tn, overtaking Apple

China’s EVs target Europe

The superpower battle for semiconductor supremacy

U.S. to curb civilian firearm exports to high-risk countries

Charting the billionaires as Musk’s wealth soars

Belgium, France, Italy and UK face rising debt challenge

Overall, smartphone sales grew 8% in Q1 2024 – the market’s best performance in years. However, Apple’s iPhone slumped 10% in the same period, triggered by poorer than expected sales in China.

Apple shipped 50.1m units, a slump on 9.6% compared to the same period last year. Samsung fell too, although a more modest 0.7%.

The biggest winners were Xiaomi, sales up 33.8%, and budget-focused Transsion which saw its sales boom by an unprecedented 84.9%.

The changes in market performance reflect China’s ban on foreign devices being permitted in the workplace, and the rise of home-grown, cheaper smartphone alternatives.

Market tracker IDC believes that as the industry recovers from the Covid years, which saw manufacturers grappling with a surfeit of unsold devices, Android devices will grow much faster than any made by Apple.