Apple’s iPhone is the cornerstone of the company’s financial might. Since its launch in 2007, it has been a rocketship of growth and revenue. Can Tim Cook and his team sustain that growth in 2025?

The Chinese market is vital for Apple’s growth. The key territories of North America and Europe are saturated, with iPhone growth presumably coming through switchers from the Android platform… a flow of users that goes both ways. That’s not the case in China, which has space for Apple to expand into.

Except for the fact that the competition in China is doing this faster than Apple. Bloomberg reports that iPhone sales in China fell by 18.2 percent in the quarter ending December 2024, alongside full-year sales dropping 5 percent.

Chinese consumers are turning to homegrown manufacturers, with Counterpoint Research reporting Huawei with a 19.4 percent share, Vivo 17 percent, Xiaomi 16.6 percent, Oppo on 14.6 and Apple in fifth place on 14.1 percent.

Apple’s iPhone strategy in China is broadly similar to other territories; it sells on the strength of the Apple brand, keeps retail prices high to pitch the iPhone as a status symbol, and holds on to a significant profit margin.

That has worked well in the US, but it’s not working in China. While Apple holds on to a global one-size-fits-all strategy of pricing and marketing, the likes of Huawei can react to local circumstances, be agile in its offers to consumers, and the market is more open to lower-priced handsets as the “must-have’ handsets each year.

If Apple wants more growth and market share in China, its global approach may need to fracture.

Now read how fashionable design, such as the iPhone 17 Air, may be the key to unlocking new smartphone markets...