Apple saw a sharp spike in iPhone sales in China in April, according to new government figures from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as interpreted by Barclays analyst Tim Long.
Apple’s new iPhone SE is powered by the Apple-designed A13 Bionic, the fastest chip in a smartphone, and also features the best single-camera system ever in an iPhone, which unlocks the benefits of computational photography including Portrait mode, and is also designed to withstand the elements with dust and water resistance – all at a starting price of just $399.
While the report doesn’t specifically call out phones by brand, Long calculates that Apple iPhone sales were up 30% both month over month and year over year
Long thinks there were several drivers for the strong overall smartphone growth, including the introduction of two high-profile models, the Huawei P40 and iPhone SE. He also cites discounting of 7% to 18% by both Apple and Huawei and growing availability of more-affordable 5G phones.
The analyst says the data imply that Apple is taking some market share in China, attributable to the iPhone SE debut and iPhone 11 promotions.
MacDailyNews Take: If so, spiking iPhone sales in China is tremendously good news for Apple as we begin to think about WWDC and then ushering in of the 5G iPhone super cycle in a mere 4-5 months!