Last month, during Apple’s Q4 2025 earnings call, CEO Tim Cook mentioned that the company “couldn’t be more pleased” with the reception of the iPhone 17 lineup in China. Now, Counterpoint Research has a few numbers on that.
Nearly four-fifths of the units sold to Chinese consumers after Sept. 19 came from the iPhone 17 line
While Apple typically doesn’t disclose sales numbers and is usually very coy when commenting on sales performance in specific countries or regions, Cook sounded particularly confident when discussing how the iPhone 17 family was doing in China, following a rather extended period of slumping sales in the country:
Ben Reitzes (Mellius Research): Can you talk a little bit about iPhone in China? Specifically, how is that going to trend in the December quarter? And have you turned the corner there? And how do you think that trajectory is going?
Tim Cook: Yeah, Ben, (…) The iPhone 17 family has been very well received there. We do believe that we will return to growth in Q1 and that is largely based on the reception of the iPhone there. And so, I couldn’t be more pleased with how things are going there in the early going.
Later during that same call, when pressed on a “muted” performance in China for the quarter, Cook insisted that it wasn’t due to lack of interest, but rather due to supply constraints. He added:
“We are thrilled with what we’re seeing right now with traffic being up significantly year-over-year, and the reception of the [iPhone] 17 family. We expect to return to growth this quarter.”
Finally, Cook also added later on that although recent government subsidies helped Apple pick up sales in China, “several of our products (…) are not eligible for a subsidy,” since it only applies within a specific price range, meaning that the demand for the new iPhones stood on its own.
Now, Counterpoint Research is out with a report that adds some numbers to Cook’s optimism.
As reported by Reuters:
Sales of iPhones in China rose 22% from year-earlier levels in the first month after the iPhone 17 series launched, even as the broader market softened, a private survey showed on Friday.
The new lineup drove most of Apple’s smartphone sales in China in the period from the September 19 launch, with the 17 series accounting for nearly four-fifths of units sold to consumers, according to the data from research firm Counterpoint.
Reuters also noted that, according to the same report, iPhone sales in China declined by 5% in the month following the launch of the iPhone 16 last year. That makes this year’s 22% jump even more noteworthy, particularly considering that the broader Chinese smartphone market reportedly slipped 2.7% year-over-year during the same period.
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