In a note seen by AppleInsider, Kuo is predicting a 10 percent to 15 percent decline year-over-year for the industry as a whole, with Chinese brands needing to rely on international sales to maintain growth. Without providing details, Kuo maintains that the “replacement demands of the iPhone XR on the Chinese market will be better last year’s demand for the iPhone 8 series.”
Factors contributing to the decline in China brands beyond innovation issues are consumer faith shaken by a potential trade war, customers sticking with “more affordable legacy iPhone models,” and the imminent release of the iPhone XR.
