iPhone 17 triggers strong rebound in China with 22 percent sales surge

Apple’s latest flagship series appears to have shifted the company’s fortunes in China. A new report from Counterpoint Research indicates that iPhone sales in the country grew 22 percent year-over-year during the first month of the iPhone 17 lineup’s availability, marking a sharp reversal from the slump Apple faced with the iPhone 16 launch last year.

The data suggests that nearly four-fifths of all iPhones sold to Chinese consumers after September 19 came from the iPhone 17 range. This aligns closely with Tim Cook’s unusually upbeat comments during the company’s Q4 2025 earnings call, where he said Apple “couldn’t be more pleased” with the response in China. After a lengthy period of softer sales in the region, Cook emphasised that the new lineup had been “very well received” and would push Apple back into growth in the current quarter.

Cook also clarified that any muted performance in the previous quarter had more to do with supply constraints than low demand. He noted that customer traffic in China was significantly higher year-over-year and that the new devices were driving momentum even without relying heavily on government subsidies. Several Apple products do not qualify for those subsidies due to their pricing, making the current uptick largely demand-driven.

Counterpoint’s figures lend weight to that argument. Reuters reports that while the broader Chinese smartphone market slipped 2.7 percent over the same period, Apple saw strong growth powered almost entirely by its newest models. For comparison, sales fell 5 percent in the month after the iPhone 16 launched last year, highlighting how significant the rebound is.