BEIJING, March 19 (Reuters) - Apple ( AAPL ) posted a

23% surge in China smartphone sales in the first nine weeks of

2026, bucking a broader market decline as some Android phone

makers raised prices in response to higher costs for memory

chips.

China's overall smartphone market fell 4% year-on-year in

the January-to-early-March period, with government subsidies

introduced at the start of the year doing little to revive

sluggish consumer demand, data on Thursday from research firm

Counterpoint showed.

Apple's ( AAPL ) gains were driven by e-commerce discounts and its

eligibility for state subsidies on the base iPhone 17 model.

The U.S. tech giant's tight grip on its supply chain leaves

it better placed than rivals to absorb the impact of soaring

memory chip costs, and it is expected to hold the line on

pricing while competitors raise theirs, the report said.

"Apple ( AAPL ) is unlikely to follow suit, instead absorbing part of

the margin pressure and using the situation to potentially

expand its market share," Counterpoint said.

Amid the rising costs of memory chips, Chinese Android phone

makers OPPO and vivo have announced price increases on some

existing models to take effect this month, a move Counterpoint

said is partly designed to gauge consumer reaction ahead of new

product launches and inform pricing for next-generation

handsets.

Huawei, meanwhile, could benefit from its reliance

on domestic suppliers, which tend to charge less than

international memory chipmakers, giving it a cost buffer against

rising memory prices, Counterpoint said, adding the company is

likely to use that advantage to grab more share in the

low-to-mid-end market.

Counterpoint expects the Chinese market to stay under

pressure from March through May, with some relief in early June

when China's mid-year "618" shopping festival typically

unleashes a wave of promotional activity.

The broader memory cost crunch is forecast to persist

throughout 2026, forcing handset makers into difficult

trade-offs between managing costs, protecting margins and

hitting shipment targets.