Strategy Analytics: iPhone Wins China’s 6.18 Despite Minor Slide

01 JULY 2022 - China’s 6.18 shopping festival has come and gone, with iPhone standing tall among the smartphones. Not as tall as last year #InThisEconomy, but still far above the rest. But let’s back up: What is 6.18?

Originally a tenth-anniversary promotion for online super-seller JD.com, a piece from 9 to 5 Mac says it has now grown into “an 18-day shopping festival worth billions of dollars.” People wait to make certain purchases hoping for good deals, not unlike Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or Prime Day here in the states.

You’d think 6.18 would be a good time for smartphones. Sadly, not #InThisEconomy. Citing numbers from Strategy Analytics, smartphone sales for 6.18 were down 25% versus 6.18 a year ago. And that is how iPhone’s fall of 4% actually ends up sounding good. Peng Peng, an analyst at Strategy Analytics, was quoted in the piece saying:

Apple solidified the leadership with impressive performance during 6.18 festival this year. Apple outperformed the market selling nearly 7 million iPhone units, modestly down -4% YoY.

That seven-million was half of the 14-million smartphones sold for 6.18, according to the firm. Strategy Analytics estimates that iPhone pulled in revenue of US$ 6.3 billion for the 18 days, putting Apple “top by revenue share across all major platforms (JD, TMall and Pinduoduo etc.).”