Apple's iPhone sales rebound in China: Can momentum stay up?

In April, Apple's (AAPL) iPhone sales increased in China as the region saw a 52% boost in shipments of foreign-brand smartphones, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT). The turnaround comes after Apple saw double-digit sales declines in the region.

Yahoo Finance Host Akiko Fujita joins Catalysts to break down Apple's sales in China and what it could mean for the company moving forward.

Read more about Apple's China troubles here.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Catalysts.

This post was written by Nicholas Jacobino

Video transcript

Turning now to a trending ticker on the finance platform.

Apple shares are rising on news that sales of the iphone are rebounding in China with shipments up 52% in April.

Here is what that means for the company moving forward is our very own fo how significant is this?

We certainly a big relief for investors given that Apple's revenue, roughly 20% of it comes from China.

You're seeing that reflected in the move in shares as you pointed out up about 1% although the stock is still down on the year.

Now, the latest data comes from research firm, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

It points to a 52% jump in shipments of foreign brands in a month where overall smartphone shipments continue to gain momentum.

Now, the data does not exp break out Apple's numbers but those 3.5 million units shipped are largely attributed to Apple given that it is still the dominant foreign brand in the market.

The momentum follows a rebound that we saw in March.

A bit of a reversal here after the company started the year, seeing double digit declines and it comes on the heels of an aggressive price cutting strategy by the tech giant back in February, Apple's third party retailers began slashing the devices as much as 10% that was seen as a direct response to recent competition the company faces from Huawei in the premium smartphone market.

Remember, the home grown player has been chipping away at Apple's market share since it launched its own premium smartphone in the fall of last year, that led to a 19% drop in shipments for Apple.

In the first three months of the year, the company reported an 8% roughly drop in its most recent quarter for the greater China region.

Now as good as the numbers were for Apple.

In April, the expectation is that momentum can build even more because of those aggressive price cutting campaigns.

The company has engaged in earlier this month, Apple upped its discount slashing prices by up to $320 on select iphone models at its T mall sites.

Investors certainly hoping that this is the beginning of a continued momentum here as Apple and Huawei continue to go uh neck and neck face off in the world's second largest smartphone market.