Rhododendron hainanense Merr. has high ornamental and ecological value. It is of great significance for the protection and application of this plant through the study of ecological requirement and applicable range. In this paper, MaxEnt model and ArcGIS were used to simulate the potential geographical distribution of R. hainanense in China, based on the existing geographic distribution information, climate factors of this plant. And the key environmental factors, affecting the potential distribution of R. hainanense and suitable thresholds are analyzed. The results showed that under the contemporary climate scenario (1970—2000), the maximum entropy model (MaxEnt) can predict the suitable area of R. hainanense with high accuracy. The temperature and precipitation have a great influence on R. hainanense. The main factors affecting the potential distribution of R. hainanense are precipitation of warmest quarter (bio18) and mean diurnal range (bio2). When the precipitation of warmest quarter (bio18) is between 610-3990 mm and the mean diurnal range (bio2) is 5-7 ℃, the climate environment is suitable for the growth of R. hainanense. In a certain range, the probability of presence of R. hainanense will increase with the increase of precipitation. In China, the suitable habitat area of R. hainanense is mainly distributed in Hainan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Taiwan, eastern Sichuan, Chongqing and Guizhou. The total suitable habitat area of R. hainanense under contemporary climate scenarios is 132.36×10⁴ km². The purpose of this paper is to provide a scientific basis for the protection and application for the species.