It looks like Apple’s latest iPhone may have been a hit in China over the holidays.
According to a new report from Bloomberg, December iPhone sales in China jumped more than 18 percent year on year. The jump in iPhone sales comes after months of decline in sales in the region for Apple.
Apple shipped roughly 3.2 million phones in China in December, up from 2.7 million a year earlier, data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology and Reuters calculations showed:
The iPhone maker’s shipments in China grew 18.7% year on year in December to roughly 3.18 million units, according to Bloomberg calculations based on government data on overall and Android device shipments. The increase marked an acceleration from the prior months, which were buoyed by the ?iPhone 11?’s release in September. The numbers come from the China Academy of Information and Communication Technology, a government think tank.
The double-digit growth in iPhone shipments is a positive sign for Apple ahead of the Chinese New Year later this month. Another reason why Apple is poised to have a bumper Chinese New Year is that Android OEMs are yet to launch their flagship phones of 2020.
Apple has already seen strong numbers from China, with demand for iPhone increasing 230 percent in September alone. The arrival of iPhone 11 was deemed to be the cause then, and that demand appears to have continued through the end of 2019. UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri believed at the time that there were several factors for the strong showing of 2019 iPhones.
Several factors are contributing to strong iPhone demand including a better trade-in program from Apple, a more attractive price-point for the base model, services bundle with hardware, and given the largest mix of phones in the install base (iPhone 7) is three generations old.
Throughout 2019, Apple offered discounts and financing schemes aimed at boosting sales in China. In the company’s last earnings call, CEO Tim Cook suggested that such initiatives were successful in attracting more Chinese consumers.
Apple is scheduled to release its next quarterly financial report in late January.
