Apple-led rebound lifts foreign smartphone shipments in China

Anabelle Colaco
28 Dec 2025, 14:00 GMT+10

Foreign smartphone makers saw a sharp rebound in China last month, with shipments more than doubling from a year earlier even as the broader market posted only modest growth
Shipments of foreign-branded mobile phones — including devices from Apple — rose 128.4 percent in November compared with the same month last year
Overall, mobile phone shipments in China increased 1.9 percent year-on-year to 30.16 million units in November, according to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology

BEIJING, China: Foreign smartphone makers saw a sharp rebound in China last month, with shipments more than doubling from a year earlier even as the broader market posted only modest growth.

Shipments of foreign-branded mobile phones, including devices from Apple, rose 128.4 percent in November compared with the same month last year, according to calculations based on data released on December 25 by a government-affiliated research body.

Overall, mobile phone shipments in China increased 1.9 percent year-on-year to 30.16 million units in November, according to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

Foreign-branded phones accounted for 6.93 million units of total shipments during the month, highlighting a strong recovery in demand for non-Chinese brands in the world's largest smartphone market.

The data suggests that while China's overall handset market remains relatively subdued, foreign brands are gaining ground at a much faster pace, helped in part by new product launches and renewed consumer interest toward the end of the year.

CAICT regularly publishes industry data on mobile phone production and shipments, which are closely watched by investors as indicators of demand trends and competitive dynamics in China's technology sector.

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