(Bloomberg/Vlad Savov) — Apple Inc.’s smartphone sales in China in the weeks leading up to the iPhone 17 launch fell 6% from the year-earlier period, a deeper slump than is typical ahead of a new flagship product release.

The US company wasn’t alone in experiencing a slow summer, as sales at fellow mobile makers Xiaomi Corp., Vivo and Honor Device Co. also declined in the first eight weeks of the year’s third quarter, according to Counterpoint Research. China’s overall market shrank 2% over that period covering July and August, despite generous government subsidies to encourage consumption.

China is the world’s biggest smartphone market and Apple’s most important after the domestic US arena. The company reversed a two-year decline in China sales over the June quarter, boosted in part by

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