China’s iOS Device Penetration Limited to Few Provinces

Despite huge growth of overall iOS device usage in China, significant usage is limited to a select few areas, while the majority of the country sees very little device penetration, according to strategic advisory firm Stenvall Skoeld & Company

Stenvall’s report, building off of last month’s Flurry research, conducted their own analysis limited to iOS (Flurry looked at both iOS and Android). Breaking down usage by province, the report found that only five of China’s 33 provinces (including regions, municipalities, and districts) had significant iOS penetration.

Guangdong (13.42 percent), Beijing (10.38), Shanghai (10.27), Zhejiang (9.54), and Jiangsu (9.22) accounted for over half of all iOS devices in the country, while no other single province rose above 3.88 percent.

iOS Device Penetration

Despite the country’s dichotomy among the provinces in iOS usage, Beijing and Shanghai’s large numbers surprised Stenvall, with one device for every nine and eleven residents, respectively.

iOS Devices Per Person

Apple’s success is China has been hard to miss (sales in Q4 2011 reached 4.5bn USD), but the high penetration rates in Beijing and Shanghai still surprised us.

How long will it take before your average Chinese Zhou can expect to own a villa in the suburbs and two cars? A long time no doubt. But it seems the Chinese dream already includes things like iPhones and iPads.