“Apple is expected to say this week that it has sold more iPhones in China than on its home turf in the US for the first time last year, highlighting the shifting power balance of the smartphone market,” Tim Bradshaw reports for 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,” Bradshaw reports. “Tim Cook, chief executive, had said in 2013 that he expected China to eventually overtake the US as Apple’s single largest source of revenue.”
“Analysts at UBS estimate that China accounted for 36 per cent of iPhone shipments in the most recent quarter, compared with 24 per cent for the US. During the same period last year, 29 per cent of units were sold in the US and 22 per cent were in China, UBS said,” Bradshaw reports. “‘It’s already been a good year, building up to the climax of this quarter,’ said Ben Bajarin, analyst at Creative Strategies, referring to Apple’s momentum in the world’s largest smartphone market. ‘It leads to a lot more optimism for China… Their potential headroom in China is higher than it is here [in the US].'”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]