Canalys says Apple sold more smartphones in China than any other brand over the holidays
Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have propelled the company to the top of the smartphone sales charts in China, a report published Wednesday suggests, knocking off former top dog Samsung and besting every domestic Chinese firm in the fourth quarter of 2014.
The report, from market research firm Canalys, did not provide details or give any indication by how much Apple may have pulled ahead. Xiaomi is said to have come in second, with Samsung in third and Huawei in fourth place.
Canalys's analysis runs counter to that published last week by Counterpoint Research, which placed Apple in a fight with Lenovo for the runner-up slot behind Xiaomi with 12, 13, and 18 percent of the market, respectively. In that survey, Samsung finished fourth with just 9 percent.
Either way, China has undoubtedly become the new battleground for industry dominance. Samsung's recent financial decline was caused largely by a slide in sales to China, previously its largest market, as the South Korean firm is squeezed by Apple on the high end and competitors like Xiaomi on the low end.
Apple, in comparison, is believed to have sold more iPhones in China than in the U.S. during the holiday quarter. The company is also in the midst of a major Chinese retail expansion, opening 4 new stores in the next 3 weeks and planning a total of 25 more outlets by the end of 2016.
The report, from market research firm Canalys, did not provide details or give any indication by how much Apple may have pulled ahead. Xiaomi is said to have come in second, with Samsung in third and Huawei in fourth place.
Canalys's analysis runs counter to that published last week by Counterpoint Research, which placed Apple in a fight with Lenovo for the runner-up slot behind Xiaomi with 12, 13, and 18 percent of the market, respectively. In that survey, Samsung finished fourth with just 9 percent.
Either way, China has undoubtedly become the new battleground for industry dominance. Samsung's recent financial decline was caused largely by a slide in sales to China, previously its largest market, as the South Korean firm is squeezed by Apple on the high end and competitors like Xiaomi on the low end.
Apple, in comparison, is believed to have sold more iPhones in China than in the U.S. during the holiday quarter. The company is also in the midst of a major Chinese retail expansion, opening 4 new stores in the next 3 weeks and planning a total of 25 more outlets by the end of 2016.
Comments
Desired in China.
Lamented in Korea.
Apple won't be popular in poor China!
Ummmm Xiaomi is an iPhone killer!!
Stupid Beats acquisition!!
Tim Cook!!!
This will be spun as Apple took a margin hit in order to sell so many phone in a country where consumer are not known to make much money. How else do you sell so much in a cheap country.
Let all remember, all these reports are guessing at the numbers, Apple is the only one actually reporting numbers and the analysis are doing a survey of 1000 people and then extrapulating it to millions of devices sold.
Have you seen the Chinese stores?
They're architectural marvels!
I'm guessing they're making sure to get every store done right instead of moving into random open vacancies.
Exactly, because the perception of prestige brand is paramount in China, where they really care about the difference.
My only comment is what the hell is taking Apple so long to build the Chinese stores? The progress has been way too slow, while the opportunity is huge. The biggest challenge for Apple on the China mainland is getting the government to drop the outrageous 17% tax added onto everything Apple. This is why so many buy in tax free Hong Kong.
17% sales tax is outrageous? Lol!
Somewhere in the annals of the Chinese government, they are scheming any and every way they can to screw Apple and steal their IP so they can essentially boot them out of China. They do that with pretty much everyone else.
Thankfully, the closest they can get is Xiaomi, but I think even the Chinese people can spot cheap knockoffs and blatant ripoff of the real thing. Unless the Chinese Government can literally install their own bootlegged iOS on crap phones, Apple may be one of the few companies that has the upper-hand in product exclusivity.
I wonder if they someday do outright rip-off, will that flag even the WTO to do (hardly) anything?
When do made up numbers correlate? Haha
Still if the numbers are remotely accurate, $$$.
Don't know about this pessimistic view, but I do know that in general Chinese people will be as good or better than anyone at spotting cheap knockoffs. Immensely detail-oriented people at near-microscopic levels, which is why they appreciate the build quality of iPhones, not to mention the fact that they make them that way in their own factories. Pride must enter in.
However, they don't have the background in individualism that underlies Western concepts of intellectual property, and that's a bit of a problem for Western companies, like you say.
So Apple is selling more $1000 phones in China than Xiaomi is selling $300 phones.....
hmm.
Still doomed though
But Xiaomi is not the only company selling Android phones in China. There are others like Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, Samsung, LG and Motorola etc.
17% VAT is applied to every durable product sold in China not just Apple and there is no possibility that will change any time soon. I don't think Apple really cares if Chinese buy in China, Hong Kong it USA as long as we buy.
This is no problem foTr Apple sales in China but small number of stores is.
But now Apple sells iPhone through China Moble, China Unicom and China Telecom shops then it solves the problem for people just want iPhone.
According to Canalys "one in three smart phones shipped were from Huawei or Xiaomi in Q2 2015. Xiaomi regained its crown as the largest smart phone vendor in China with 15.9% market share, according to Canalys estimates. However Huawei is hot on its heels, growing 48% sequentially - the fastest growing vendor in the top ten. Huawei’s 15.7% share leaves a very slim lead for Xiaomi. Apple fell to third place, followed by Samsung and Vivo.
“The China smart phone market continues to mature, remaining stagnant quarter-on-quarter. Competition among major brands has never been so intense. Huawei recorded the highest smart phone shipments in its history without compromising its product margin or profitability. Apple and Samsung have both increased their sales activities in the China market, expanding rapidly in channel coverage through flagship stores and small to medium size phone retailers respectively. Xiaomi is under immense pressure to maintain its top position in the quarters to come."
That doesn't necessarily mean those two Chinese manufacturers are seeing significant profits. No idea on that and Canalys doesn't mention it. Little doubt that it's still Apple's market.