Chinese consumers are rediscovering their appetite for iPhones.
Apple Inc shipped 10 million iPhones in China during September and last month, based on Bloomberg’s calculations from government data on overall and Android device shipments.
SHIPMENTS INCREASE
That is the first indication of the company’s performance following the autumn release of its latest gadgets, and it shows that iPhone shipments were up 6 percent from a year earlier, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, which is run by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.
That affirms expectations that Apple’s iPhone 11 is selling more strongly than its predecessor, particularly in a market that is second only to the US in its importance to Apple’s bottom line.
The company had recently been stuck in a rut in China, ceding ground to local rivals, such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Xiaomi Corp (小米), which offer more enticing pricing, better specifications and increasingly premium design.
Apple also lost market share to Samsung Electronics Co and Huawei globally prior to the iPhone 11’s release.
BETTER PERFORMANCE
Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook has said new pricing, a monthly payment program and trade-in offers helped the iPhone’s performance in China.
“Chinese customers seem to be receiving the iPhone 11 series better than last year’s models because of the lowered retail price,” Canalys analyst Nicole Peng (彭路平) said. “We see weaker shipments for old models, but the latest products are going strong.”
OVERALL DECLINE
Overall Chinese smartphone shipments dropped 5 percent to 69.3 million units during the two months, according to reports published by the academy, which tracks the number of smartphones that get permits to be sold in China.
Apple took major strides to increase battery life in its iPhone 11 and 11 Pro devices, while lowering the starting price by US$50.
After years of stagnation in cameras, the company overhauled the iPhone’s image quality this year, catching up to category leaders Google and Huawei. This approach drew an overwhelmingly positive critical reception.
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