No matter how great a company is, even the most successful product eventually matures and declines with the passage of time as rivals angle for a piece of the market your innovation created. A case in point is Apple’s iPhone,

In China, Apple’s second largest market, iPhone sales fell 18% in the December ending quarter, according to Bloomberg.

Apple's iPhone sales in China reportedly took a tumble at the end of 2024, with a considerable reduction in sales putting it in a dead heat with homegrown Xiaomi.

According to Counterpoint Research, Apple was unable to gain market share in China with the iPhone 16. This helps local manufacturers.

Sales of Apple Inc. iPhones dived 18.2% in China during the December quarter, according to independent research, a major setback for the company in its biggest market after the US.Most Read from BloombergWhat Happened to Hanging Out on the Street?

Apple already had a rough start to the year. More worries about how its latest iPhones are selling aren’t helpi

Phone growth in the U.S. and the rest of the world offsets softer sales in China, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives says.

Doug and Lee examined Apple's decreasing stock performance, pointing out as main causes of investor unhappiness dismal iPhone 16 sales in China, AI losses, and criticism about the company's lack of recent innovation.

Apple (AAPL), and the stock has lost over 11% so far, extending its drawdown from all-time highs to over 14%. It also lost its status as the world’s largest company to Nvidia (NVDA), whose share have looked unstoppable over the last few years.

Apple shares are close to key support. Breaking below $217 would bring $208 into play, according to technical stock market analysts.