In the fourth quarter of 2025, Apple captured a 21.8% share of China’s smartphone shipments, marking a 28% year-over-year increase and outpacing local rivals Huawei and Vivo, whose shares fell to 14.6% and 15.7% respectively. Counterpoint Research attributes this outperformance to strong demand for the iPhone 17 series, particularly the Pro models with redesigned camera systems and the base variants offering doubled storage at stable price points. Despite not yet offering an on-device AI feature, Apple’s supply ramp in Greater China accelerated, underscoring the brand’s resilience in the world’s largest smartphone market.

Apple is set to report fiscal first-quarter earnings on Thursday, with analysts projecting earnings per share growth of 11.2% year-over-year and revenue of approximately $137.5 billion, up 10.6%. Investors will focus on core drivers such as iPhone demand in China, services segment margin expansion, and the integration roadmap for artificial intelligence across product lines. The consensus analyst target implies roughly 15.7% upside from current levels, while a fair value estimate suggests modest risk if growth disappoints expectations.

Apple shares have declined nearly 15% from recent highs, dipping into the lowest relative strength index reading since 2008 at around 18, signaling extreme oversold conditions. This technical backdrop coincides with broader market risk-off sentiment driven by geopolitical concerns, yet highlights a potential buy-the-dip opportunity given Apple’s consistent track record of beating earnings forecasts, robust gross margins above 40%, and a capital return program that has repurchased over $600 billion in stock since 2012 and grown dividends for 12 consecutive years.

Later this year, Apple plans to introduce two major updates to Siri: an April software release that enhances on-screen content recognition and web-search capabilities, followed by a comprehensive chatbot overhaul in the next major operating system cycle. The latter will position Siri as the company’s first generative AI assistant, leveraging large language models to enable conversational queries and contextual responses. Industry estimates suggest successful deployment could drive increased engagement across Apple’s installed base of over 2 billion active devices, supporting future services-driven revenue streams.