BEIJING, May 8 (Reuters) - Apple's ( AAPL ) iPhone

shipments in China increased by 12% in March after the company

and its retailers reduced prices, according to data from a

research firm affiliated the Chinese government.

Shipments of foreign-branded phones in China increased by

12% in March to 3.75 million units from 3.35 million a year

earlier，data from the China Academy of Information and

Communications Technology (CAICT) published on Wednesday showed.

Although the data did not explicitly mention Apple ( AAPL ), the

company is the dominant foreign phone maker in China's

smartphone-dominated market. This suggests that the increase in

foreign-branded phone shipments can be attributed to Apple's ( AAPL )

performance.

Apple's ( AAPL ) sales surge in March followed a ramped-up

discounting effort led by the company and third-party sellers in

the run-up to the month, with some iPhone 15 models offered at

discounts of as much as 10%.

The price cuts appear to have stimulated demand and

contributed to the company's growth in the Chinese market. This

represents a significant turnaround from the first two months of

2024, when Apple ( AAPL ) experienced a 37% slump in sales, according to

Reuters calculations based on the CAICT data.

During the first quarter of this year, Apple's ( AAPL ) smartphone

shipments in China tumbled 19%, marking their worst performance

since 2020, according to research firm Counterpoint. The primary

reason for Apple's ( AAPL ) sales slump was the launch and successful

sales of a high-end smartphone by Huawei in August of the

previous year.

Apple's ( AAPL ) recorded sales of $16.37 billion for the fiscal

second quarter that ended March 30 in the Greater China region,

down 8.1% but above analyst expectations of $15.59 billion, data

from Visible Alpha showed.