07:10 AM EDT, 05/28/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), shipments of foreign-branded phones in China increased 52% in April. AAPL is not specifically broken out; the iPhone does represent an overwhelming majority of foreign-branded smartphone units. This builds on the momentum from March after sharp declines in the first 2 months of the year. We think more aggressive pricing discounts is helping unit growth return as CEO Tim Cook alluded to a more competitive environment in China earlier this month. We would note that we, as well as the consensus, currently forecast a decline in China for the Jun-Q (down about 3%-4% Y/Y), typically the trough of the iPhone cycle, providing potential upside should the momentum persist. Separately, we think AAPL's ambitions towards greater AI capabilities ahead of the iPhone 16 launch this fall should appeal to China consumers and also better positions it at the high-end of the market. Pricing should also improve during the iPhone 16 cycle.