After the iPhone 16 came out and it was revealed that Apple Intelligence — its biggest selling point — would not be available in China, tech enthusiasts in the region rightfully lost interest. Apple’s promised AI features have still not been rolled out in China and even the countries that did receive Apple Intelligence have only received some half-baked tools.
China’s Smartphone Market in March: Xiaomi Leads in Market Share, Huawei Records Highest YoY Growth; Apple Drops to 5th with 9.86% Decline
>3月中国手机市场数据出炉：小米激活量第一，华为同比增速最快.… pic.twitter.com/iyQWKDtr4g
— Jukanlosreve (@Jukanlosreve) April 15, 2025
Promised Apple Intelligence features for the iPhone 16. | Video credit — Apple
Chinese competitors to Apple are seeing increases in market share as the latter continues to fall down the ranks. Xiaomi is leading the charts while Huawei, which currently ranks second, has seen the most year-over-year growth in its home market. Vivo is third and Oppo is fourth while Apple has dropped to fifth place with another decline of 9.86 percent.
I also think that the continued lack of Apple Intelligence in China — partly due to the government’s restrictions — has made domestic offerings seem like better value. Huawei in particular is doing some spectacular things with HarmonyOS and also recently released a tri-foldable smartphone: the Huawei Mate XT.
If Apple continues to stall the rollout of its AI features and tensions between the U.S. and China continue to rise then I don’t see a future where China remains a major market for the iPhone. Progress has been made for the AI problem but the geopolitical issues only seem to be going up for now.
