New Apple iPhones not sweet to Chinese market

Some Apple-related Chinese listed companies experienced a major slump on Wednesday. Shares of Shenzhen Sunway Communication Co Ltd, Shenzhen Desay Battery Technology Co Ltd and Wuhu Token Sciences Co Ltd dropped the 10 percent limit on Wednesday trading.

In a survey on Sina.com.cn, the No 1 Web portal in China, more than half of respondents said they will choose neither of the new iPhone devices.

Apple ranked as the sixth biggest smartphone vendor in China in the second quarter of this year, occupying about a 4.9 percent market share, according to research firm IDC. Its share price slid significantly from 8.6 percent in the first quarter, IDC said.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Lenovo Group took the top two positions during the period, with market shares of 18.3 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively.

Kevin Wang, a senior analyst at research firm IHS iSuppli, said the iPhone 5C's price is too expensive and it will not act as a driver for improving Apple's performance in the country.

"Apple's pricing strategy for new products is good news for domestic mobile phone companies, such as Huawei and Xiaomi. Many Chinese people are price sensitive and they will turn to cost effective, high quality smartphones rather than choose an iPhone," Wang said.

Apple can make a turnaround only by cooperating with China Mobile Ltd, the nation's biggest telecom carrier by subscriber numbers, said James Yan, a telecoms analyst with IDC China. "Apple is likely to introduce its TD-LTE iPhone in the fourth quarter this year or early next year. The company will benefit from the cooperation based on China Mobile's vast user base," he said.

Yan added he expected the share of China's iOS platform users to double next year, thanks to China Mobile's contribution. Currently, 8 percent of Chinese smartphones are running on Apple's iOS platform, while Google Inc's Android operating system has an 88 percent market share, according to IDC.