Apple's iPhone shipments in China declined by 9 percent in the first quarter compared to the year earlier, and it was the only major smartphone vendor to see a decline, according to data from research firm IDC.
Shipments of iPhones fell to 9.8 million units, giving Apple a market share of 13.7 percent, down from 17.4 percent in the previous quarter. Apple has now had seven straight quarters of decline.
For local vendors, it was another story. Market leader Xiaomi saw shipments rise 40 percent to 13.3 million units. Meanwhile, industry-wide shipments rose by 3.3 percent.
According to IDC, Apple's premium pricing structure prevented the company from capitalizing on new government subsidies introduced at the start of the year that fuelled growth in the first quarter.
Under the subsidies, consumers of electronics get a 15 percent refund of products that are priced under 6,000 yuan ($820). Apple's standard iPhone 16 starts at 5,999 yuan.
Saturday October 18, 2025 11:00 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps.
More features and changes will follow in future ...
Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air amid underwhelming sales performance, Japan's Mizuho Securities believes (via The Elec).
The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing...
Friday October 17, 2025 7:35 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions.
iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet.
The update will likely be released by the end of next week.
Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
Monday October 20, 2025 10:57 am PDT by Juli Clover
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass.
The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted ...
Sunday October 19, 2025 7:39 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26.4 is expected to introduce a revamped version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, but not everyone is satisfied with how well it works.
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said some of Apple's software engineers have "concerns" about the overhauled Siri's performance. However, he did not provide any specific details about the shortcomings.
iOS 26.4 will...
Saturday October 18, 2025 10:57 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the new iPad Pro's headline feature is the M5 chip, the device has some other changes, including N1 and C1X chips, faster storage speeds, and more.
With the M5 chip, the new iPad Pro has up to a 20% faster CPU and up to a 40% faster GPU compared to the previous model with the M4 chip, according to Geekbench 6 results. Keep in mind that 256GB and 512GB configurations have a 9-core CPU,...
Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year.
The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
Thursday October 16, 2025 3:57 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple plans to launch MacBook Air models equipped with the new M5 chip in spring 2026, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple is also working on M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models that will come early in the year.
Neither the MacBook Pro models nor the MacBook Air models are expected to get design changes, with Apple focusing on simple chip upgrades. In the case of the MacBook Pro, a m...
Thursday October 16, 2025 8:31 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with an M5 chip, and there are two key storage-related upgrades beyond that chip bump.
First, Apple says the new 14-inch MacBook Pro offers up to 2× faster SSD performance than the equivalent previous-generation model, so read and write speeds should get a significant boost. Apple says it is using "the latest storage technology," ...
And it is only gonna get „worse“. I was in Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong recently and the hardware of these phones there make iPhone look like the Nokia of 2025. Needless to say, I returned with my first ever Oppo device (not even sold here in Germany).
Apple is lucky they got most people in the west hooked on their locked in ecosystem
Not surprised. Smartphone makers around the globe have surpassed Apple when it comes to hardware of their devices. People want more than the same old slab that Apple has been churning out year after year.
I'm not surprised. Even as a lifelong Apple owner/user I can't help but look with envy. When you see what Xiaomi is producing like with the 15 Ultra, of Oppo with the Find N5 that is some amazing kit. Sure the software is running a bit behind in polish, but also catching up rapidly. Or even when you take a look at how Samsung UI7 introduced on the S25 Ultra is progressing and integrating AI well and not just do emoji updates, they are taking the software to another level. Similarly with plain Android and Gemini integrations.
Apple is running behind on the hardware, and on the software. Where they still have the edge, just, is eco system integration. But with the global drive to move away from US services I can't see that lasting long. And the same is happening with Android hardware that is being de-googled.
And it is only gonna get „worse“. I was in Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong recently and the hardware of these phones there make iPhone look like the Nokia of 2025. Needless to say, I returned with my first ever Oppo device (not even sold here in Germany).
Apple is lucky they got most people in the west hooked on their locked in ecosystem
I live in Tokyo and travel to Seoul HK and Singapore every month, and I literally have no idea what you’re talking about. All the hardware looks basically the same.
