Apple’s relevance in China has taken a huge hit this year. In a survey asking Chinese consumers about brands they can’t live without, Apple came in fifth in 2017. This year, it’s down to 24th.
According to the latest Prophet Brand Relevance Index, which has surveyed 13,000 consumers in China every year since 2016, patriotic sentiment has given a big boost to domestic brands. That could be one reason Apple’s image in China is slumping.
Trump’s trade war with China has triggered repeated calls for Apple boycotts on Chinese social media, although it’s questionable whether they have any actual impact. Android, however, has remained among the top three brands in China since 2017.
Most of the brands on the Brand Relevance Index are Chinese. Alipay, the widely used mobile payment app, takes the top spot every year, and Huawei, DJI and WeChat are in the top five. Bilibili also made the list this year for the first time, ranking sixth.
(Abacus is a unit of the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba, whose affiliate Ant Financial operates Alipay.)