The Cupertino-based company’s iPhone sales in China fell 27% in the past week through Oct. 24, for the third week in a row. Jefferies analysts, including Edison Lee, wrote in a note Sunday that even as the device adjusts for this year’s first release, the negative trend continues, making it even worse for Android rivals than recent dips.

Lee wrote that iPhone sales in China rose 5.7 percent in the three months to September, compared to a 15.2 percent drop for Android alternatives. The situation changed last month, and according to analysts, Apple may have lost four to five percent of its market share in the country.

“The iPhone used to be a bright spot, it’s gotten less bright, and recent data points to the risk of potentially becoming a worse spot,” Lee said. “This is a growing negative trend for the smartphone market, but a particular challenge for the iPhone supply chain.”

According to research firm Canalys, the global smartphone market has seen a decline in shipments for three consecutive quarters this year. Consumer appetite for on-demand goods such as personal electronics has deteriorated due to rising interest rates and rising energy prices.

The economic recession and quarantine in China due to Covid-19 reduced the sales speed of Samsung Electronics Co. In discussing this month’s earnings, he cited the slowdown in China’s mobile device market as a stumbling block to its component business. Chinese consumers bought fewer iPhone 14 phones in the first days of its September launch than when the product was a year ago. Also, smartphone shipments in China fell nearly 21% in August, according to national data released last week.

Against the background of current trends, Apple has already abandoned its plans to increase production of the iPhone 14 product family, Bloomberg reported last month.