BEIJING, March 5 (Reuters) - Apple's ( AAPL ) iPhone

sales in China fell 24% year-on-year in the first six weeks of

2024, according to research firm Counterpoint, as the U.S.

company faced increased competition from domestic rivals such as

Huawei.

The U.S. tech giant's chief competitor in China in premium

smartphones, Huawei, saw unit sales rise by 64% in the period,

according to the report.

Apple's ( AAPL ) share of the Chinese smartphone market dropped to

15.7%, putting it in fourth place, compared with second place in

the same period of 2023 when it accounted for 19% of the market.

Huawei rose to second place as its market share expanded to

16.5% from 9.4% a year earlier.

The overall smartphone market in China shrank 7%, the report

said.

Apple ( AAPL ) "faced stiff competition at the high end from a

resurgent Huawei while getting squeezed in the middle on

aggressive pricing from the likes of OPPO, Vivo and Xiaomi,"

said Counterpoint's senior analyst Mengmeng Zhang.

Apple ( AAPL ) began subsidizing certain iPhone models by as much as

1,300 yuan ($180.68) last week through flagship stores on Tmall,

Alibaba's major marketplace platform.

It had already offered iPhone discounts of up to 500 yuan on

its official sites last month.

Huawei has seen a resurgence in its premium smartphone sales

since it released its Mate 60 series in August after struggling

for years with U.S. restrictions on the exports of key

components to the company.

Honor, the smartphone brand spun off from Huawei in 2020,

was the only other top-five brand to see unit sales increase

during the first six weeks of the year, up 2%. Chinese brands

Vivo, Xiaomi and Oppo dropped 15%, 7% and 29% respectively.