Apple Inc was China’s top-selling smartphone brand in the final quarter of last year, industry research showed, taking top spot in the world’s largest mobile market for the first time since 2015.
The newly released iPhone 13 helped Apple outsell Chinese rivals Vivo Communication Technology Co (維沃) and Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀) after Huawei Technologies Co (華為) plummeted down the rankings, Counterpoint Research said in a report yesterday.
Apple’s sales in the country surged 32 percent even while the overall domestic market shrank 9 percent, hurt by chip shortages and an economic slowdown that have constrained production and consumer demand.
Photo: Reuters
The shuffle marks a shift in market dynamics after US curbs on technology exports crippled Huawei’s smartphone business, briefly the world’s largest.
The Chinese networking giant was forced to spin off mobile arm Honor (榮耀) in 2020, which ranked fifth in the quarter after Xiaomi Corp (小米).
Apple’s Chinese market share hit a record 23 percent in the final three months of last year, Counterpoint estimated.
“Apple’s stellar performance was driven by a mix of its pricing strategy and gain from Huawei’s premium base,” research analyst Mengmeng Zhang (張蒙蒙) said in the report, which estimates sales of phones to end-users rather than shipments.
Globally, smartphone demand might remain depressed as inflationary pressures, an economic downturn and a slowing replacement cycle dampen sales, while a persistent chip shortage curtails output.
Semiconductor stocks on Friday took a beating after a grim profit warning from Idaho-based Micron Technology Inc sparked fresh worries about the US’ earnings power as the country is potentially heading for a recession. Despite a broader stock market rally, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index dropped 3.8 percent after Micron, the largest maker of memory semiconductors in the US, flagged that demand was cooling for chips used in computers and smartphones. The index — which is home to US chip giants Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Nvidia Corp, as well as Micron — is down 38 percent this year. Historically, semiconductor
WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY: Costco Wholesale said it expected the purchase of the remaining 45 percent stake to add 1 to 1.5 percent to its earnings per share US-based Costco Wholesale Corp on Thursday said that it had purchased the remaining 45 percent stake in Costco President Taiwan Inc (台灣好市多) for US$1.05 billion, making the local company a fully-owned unit. “We estimate that the purchase would add about 1 to 1.5 percent to [our] earnings per share,” Costco said in a statement. Costco President Taiwan was established as a joint venture with Kaohsiung-based President Group (大統集團), which held a 45 percent stake. Since the first Costco store opened in Kaohsiung in 1997, 14 outlets have been set up in Taiwan, company data showed. PROFITABLE Three Costco stores in Taiwan — in Taipei’s Neihu
MOBILITY SOLUTIONS: Tata Technologies’ participation marks more progress in Hon Hai’s efforts to expand its ecosystem through the platform, the Taiwanese firm said India’s Tata Technologies Ltd has become the latest member of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co’s (鴻海精密) MIH Open Platform to jointly develop sustainable mobility solutions for customers worldwide, the Taiwanese company said yesterday. It might include embedded and electrical, electric platform development and battery management system solutions, among others, Hon Hai said. Tata Technologies’ participation marks more progress in Hon Hai’s efforts to expand its electric-vehicle (EV) ecosystem through the MIH platform, it said. The open platform has about 2,380 members around the world, with an aim to jointly develop EV ecosystems and shrink the time to market for products. Hon Hai made the
SOARING PROFITS: Semiconductors and shipping have knocked automaking and construction out of the 10 highest paying industries, stock exchange data showed Mobile phone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) posted an average of NT$5.15 million (US$173,249) in annual compensation for non-managerial employees last year, marking the highest among all firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), exchange data showed. That is a 66 percent increase from the company’s average compensation of NT$3.08 million in 2020, as its earnings per share (EPS) expanded from NT$26.01 in 2020 to NT$70.56 last year. That is also three times higher than the average compensation of NT$1.7 million in the nation’s semiconductor industry, the data showed. The increases helped MediaTek advance its ranking from third in 2020, replacing
RSS