Apple Smartphone Sales Reach All-Time High in Urban China

Apple sales of iOS devices have reached an all-time high in urban China, according to smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. Looking at the three months ending February 2015, Apple captured 27.6% of the smartphone market.

"There has been a strong appetite for Apple’s products in urban China seen since the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and this has continued into Chinese New Year. China Mobile’s subscribers accounted for 59% of the 27.6% volume share recorded by iOS in the latest period", reported Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. “Across key global markets Apple’s momentum generally continued from last month, with market share gains in all markets except the US and Japan.”

“In urban China, Apple iPhone 6 remained the best selling phone in the three months ending in February growing its share to 10.2% compared to 9.5% registered in the three months ending in January”, explained Tamsin Timpson, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia. “The iPhone 6 Plus was the third best selling smartphone after the iPhone 6 and the Xiaomi RedMI Note. With the two flagships, as well as older models still selling strong, Apple was able to grab the top spot in the smartphone manufacturers ranking. Xiaomi stepped down to number two.”


In Europe, Apple gained 2.9% share at Android's expense. In the U.S., iOS share dropped slightly from 39.3% to 38.8% over this time last year. It's believed that new offerings from Samsung, HTC, LG, and Huawei will inject a spark into the ecosystem battle over the coming months. Most notably due to the Samsung Galaxy S6 which launches on April 10th.

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