Apple May Have Sold More iPhones in China Than the U.S. for the First Time

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Posted January 26, 2015 at 6:49pm by Shalom Levytam

Apple is expected to announce tomorrow that it sold more iPhones in China than the U.S. for the first time last year, reports the Financial Times.

Analysts estimate that the US tech group reached the turning point in iPhone sales after expanding its presence in China last year via a deal with China Mobile, the country’s largest network operator, and after the release of the latest iPhone 6 in the country in October.

UBS analysts estimate that China accounted for 36% of iPhone shipments last quarter compared to 24% for the United States. During the same time last year 29% of iPhone shipments went to the U.S. compared to 22% for China.

“It’s already been a good year, building up to the climax of this quarter,” said Ben Bajarin, analyst at Creative Strategies. “It leads to a lot more optimism for China . . . Their potential headroom in China is higher than it is here [in the US].”

The report corroborates one from Counterpoint Research which found that Apple share of smartphone sales in Asian markets has soared since the company released the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Much of the company's gains have come at Samsung's expense.

We'll have more details when Apple announces its earnings tomorrow. Please follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates.

Apple May Have Sold More iPhones in China Than the U.S. for the First Time

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matrixmaniac - January 26, 2015 at 7:03pm

Yup. Brains maybe?

What - January 26, 2015 at 8:05pm

Well said! @TechnoGeek

stevenlacross - January 26, 2015 at 8:08pm

Yeah, or it could be because Americans can see what a crappier device it is to other devices-bendgate, "ion glass" breaking easier than Gorilla Glass.

gamerscul9870 - January 26, 2015 at 9:19pm

Or maybe it's how careful Americans aren't for phones that blamed them on bend gate, now a thinner Galaxy is coming to take a real example of bending no matter what you do even for the same plastic material. Ion glass is one of the hardest, sure not close to "Gorilla" however you learned it like that, but it's just a bit of bending.

THui - January 27, 2015 at 12:52am

That is not true. America still has more million and billionaires than any other country in the world. It is cause Chinese people (I'm one) like showing off luxury things plus they have over a billion people and about 4x the population of the U.S. This is not a shock at all. More and more people in China are becoming wealthy.