As the iPhone 15 flunks in China, the Mate 60 Pro allegedly sells 1.6 million units in six weeks

A research firm quoted by Reuters has it that Huawei is selling the Mate 60 Pro like hotcakes. Despite – or precisely because of – the Mate 60 Pro’s hardware origins are a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, it’s selling great. Meanwhile, the iPhone 15 line is not having a great time in China at all.

Let’s have a look at the numbers. The research firm claims that the US-sanctioned Huawei has sold 1.6 million of its Mate 60 Pro phones in six weeks and calls that a “high-end smartphone renaissance”.

Of the 1.6 million units, the Mate 60 Pro sold more than 400,000 units in the last two weeks alone, the period in which Apple launched the iPhone 15 on the mainland.

While US officials were asking a bunch of questions about the Mate 60 Pro and its sanctions-defying inception, the iPhone 15 sales in China flunked. In its first 17 days, sales of the new Cupertino phone were down 4.5% compared to the iPhone 14, the researchers said, without providing specific figures.

The Mate 60 Pro has been in high demand, with available stock immediately being bought up, "creating the appearance of perpetual unavailability," said Counterpoint senior analyst Ivan Lam.

Next year, try better

While there could be a massive U-turn in China and suddenly everybody could start buying the iPhone 15, the reality is that they most probably won’t – not with the current government that gently barred its officials and state firms employees from using Apple’s phone.

That’s why the Cupertino giant – not keen on underperforming in China, one of its most important markets – is already planning a more seductive iPhone 16 line. Analyst Jeff Pu shared some details about what to expect from the iPhone 16. According to him, next year’s Pro models will be equipped with a faster 5G modem, Wi-Fi 7, and a new 48-megapixel ultra-wide lens. In contrast, the non-Pro versions (the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus) will get some of the technologies introduced with the iPhone 15 Pro, such as Wi-Fi 6e.

What’s more interesting, Pu reported that all iPhone 16 models will be powered by chips from the A18 family.