Abstract:
On October 28, the "Smartphone Weekly Sales Tracking Report" released by market research organization Counterpoint Research showed that global sales of Apple's iPhone 18 Pro series in the first three weeks of its launch increased by 3.1% compared with the same period last year's iPhone 17 Pro series. Among them, sales in the Chinese market increased by 29% year-on-year, accounting for most of the global sales increase, while sales in the United States and Japan declined year-on-year.
Counterpoint analysis believes that the growth of the Chinese market is mainly due to more sufficient initial supply than last year, as well as the increase in prices of Android manufacturers' flagship competing products. At the same time, emerging markets such as India have also brought sales growth to the series.
The U.S. and Japanese markets are affected by the fact that new models are priced higher than their predecessors. Counterpoint pointed out that American consumers generally believe that the improvements in functionality and design of new phones are not significant enough; exchange rate factors in the Japanese market have further amplified the impact of price increases and suppressed purchase demand.
In terms of model composition, iPhone 18 Pro Max accounted for 56% of the sales of this series, slightly lower than the 57% in the same period last year. Counterpoint attributes this change to price increases and sales growth in emerging markets such as India and Southeast Asia that favor Pro models.
Sujeong Lim, deputy director of Counterpoint Research, said that whether the strong performance of the Chinese market comes from sustainable demand or from consumers purchasing phones in advance still needs to be observed in the next few weeks. In the short term, the focus will be on whether the U.S. and Japanese markets can rebound, and whether the iPhone Duo, launched in its 43rd week, can bring new demand and divert Pro Max sales.
Tarun Pathak, research director of Counterpoint Research, believes that the market environment faced by new products this year is significantly different from last year. Price increases driven by storage costs and macroeconomic uncertainty are inhibiting consumers' willingness to upgrade and further prolonging the replacement cycle. Whether demand can remain stable after the initial sales peak will also affect Apple's performance during the holiday shopping season in the fourth quarter.
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