08:05 AM EST, 03/05/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Apple's ( AAPL ) iPhone sales in China fell by 24% year-on-year during the first six weeks of 2024 amid increased competition from domestic rivals, the research firm Counterpoint said Tuesday.

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 in a statement.

The sales drop for the US company came alongside a 64% sales rise for Huawei, its biggest smartphone competition in China, according to a separate Counterpoint report seen by several media outlets.

Counterpoint found that Apple's ( AAPL ) share of the Chinese smartphone market dropped to 15.7% during the period, compared with 19% a year earlier, according to media reports.

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