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Strong demand for the iPhone 17 is driving Apple’s turnaround in China.
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Research firm IDC found that Apple led smartphone shipments in China in October and November.
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Apple told investors it expects the Chinese market to return to growth in the quarter ending in December.
Things are looking up for Apple in China.
The tech giant is expected to take a leading position in regions where smartphone shipments are at a low point by 2025, according to a research report released by International Data Corporation on Tuesday.
China is Apple’s largest market and demand for the new iPhone 17 is huge, pushing Apple to a record high in 2025. IDC predicts that global iPhone shipments will reach 247 million units this year.
IDC’s China monthly sales data shows that in October and November, Apple was “well ahead of its competitors” in China, with a market share of more than 20%.
“This turns the previous forecast of a 1% decline in mobile phone sales in China in 2025 into a positive growth of 3%, which is a stunning turnaround,” Nabila Popal, senior research director of IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, said in the report.
That’s a huge jump from IDC’s report in April, a few months before the iPhone 17 series was announced, that iPhone shipments in China were down 9%. The company also found that Apple was the only major smartphone manufacturer to lose market share in the first quarter of 2025.
Globally, IDC predicts that global smartphone shipments will increase 1.5% year-on-year, driven by Apple’s holiday quarter results. Apple told analysts in October that it expected revenue in the December quarter to be the “best ever” for both the company and iPhone.
While Apple CEO Tim Cook’s predictions for a return to growth in China appear to be on track so far, the iPhone maker showed signs of trouble in the latest quarter. Cook said supply constraints in China contributed to a 4% year-over-year decline in the period.
Apple faces local competition in China as rivals such as Huawei and Xiaomi launch new smartphone lines. The iPhone Air, released alongside the iPhone 17, also faced early challenges in China, where the eSIM-only phone was unavailable for some time after its global launch. However, Cook said he was “very satisfied” with the response to the iPhone 17 in China during its first month on the market.
The success of the iPhone has spread across various regions, including the United States and Western Europe. IDC predicts that overall global shipments will increase by 6.1% year-on-year in 2025.