On January 19, data from Counterpoint Research revealed that, despite the escalating scarcity of crucial memory chips, Apple's iPhone shipments in the Chinese market surged by 28% during the festive season, propelling the brand back to the pinnacle of market dominance. Leveraging the allure of the iPhone 17 series, Apple's smartphone shipments constituted a remarkable one-fifth of the total shipments in the December quarter of the previous year. In line with English expression habits, here “last year” is replaced with “the previous year” for a more natural flow. Counterpoint analysts forecast that memory prices will persist in their upward trajectory, with an anticipated surge of 40% to 50% in the first quarter of 2026, succeeded by an additional hike of roughly 20% in the second quarter. “Continue to climb” is replaced with “persist in their upward trajectory” to make the sentence more vivid and in line with English writing habits. To mitigate this challenge, smartphone manufacturers are poised to streamline their product portfolios and curtail the production scale of low-end models to safeguard profit margins.