Apple is back in the big time in China
The iPhone maker logged its strongest China sales in years as upgrades and switchers surged.
Apple just posted record quarterly revenue and iPhone sales — and China, a sore spot for years, was a big reason why.
For the quarter ended December 2025, Apple’s total revenue rose 16% year on year to $143.8 billion, with sales in Greater China — the company’s third-largest region after the Americas and Europe — surging 38% year on year to $25.5 billion.
That marks Apple’s first quarter over $25 billion in China in four years — and its second-best quarter there on record.
CEO Tim Cook credited the turnaround to the iPhone 17 lineup, calling it “the best iPhone quarter in history in Greater China” in the earnings call. The September launch of the latest iPhone drove strong store traffic growth in the region, as well as record upgrades from older models and “double-digit growth” in customers switching from rival brands.
According to Counterpoint Research, iPhones accounted for more than one in five (22%) smartphone shipments in China in Q4 2025, the highest share of any brand, rising 28% from the year before.
The rebound comes after years of falling sales, weighed down by intensifying competition from local players like Huawei and Vivo, as well as government restrictions on the use of foreign devices among state workers.
