Summary
- iPhone 17 series has reportedly sold 17.27 million units in China since September 2025.
- It has managed to surpass the Xiaomi 17 series by a staggering 14.19 million units in sale.
- Huawei Mate 80 series, Vivo X300 lineup and Oppo Find X9 series has emerged as the third, fourth and fifth contenders.
It has been almost four months since the iPhone 17 series went official. However, the craze for the new phones is nowhere ending. They bring some of the biggest noticeable changes to iPhones since the iPhone X and it is no surprise that fans in China are preferring it over the Android counterparts.
iPhone sales in China are in a league of their own
As per sales data shared by tipster Ice Universe on X, Apple has managed to sell approximately 17.27 million units of the iPhone 17 series in China. It includes the standard iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Moreover, this sales figure only reflects the last four months' unit sales data, since the lineup went official in September 2025. For context, the Xiaomi 17 series, which managed to emerge as the second best-selling lineup, could clock only 3.08 million sales. This is a substantial 14.19 million unit sales volume gap.
As for the third, fourth and fifth positions, they have been secured by the Huawei Mate 80 series, Vivo's X300 lineup and the Oppo Find X9 series phones, respectively. Interestingly, Apple has managed to sell 10.06 million units more than all of the top Chinese Android smartphone brands combined, making the latest Apple iPhones sheer dominators in the market.
This comes as a huge surprise especially considering the Chinese government's pro-Chinese brand subsidisation model. For those unaware, the CCP gives residents a 15% flat refund for products that are priced under 6,000 Chinese yuan (approximately Rs 79,100). This usually doesn't apply to Apple phones, especially the Pro models since they start in China from 8,999 Chinese yuan (approximately Rs 1,20,000).
Moreover, even when the iPhone 17 does meet the cut-off rate at 5,999 Chinese yuan, the CCP doesn't allow the subsidy policy to hold binding. Hence, even when there is ample reasons for smartphone owners in China to opt for indigenous brands, they are primarily flocking towards Apple.
This is a huge success for Apple since China has always been one of the most competitive and hard to penetrate market for the brand. All in all, looks like the Cupertino brand's upgrades are finally paying off. With rock-solid hardware, software and solid pricing, iPhone users in China are on an exponential rise.
Source
X/ @UniverseIce
