Recent numbers out of China reveal an interesting shift in the smartphone landscape. While the country is buying fewer phones overall, foreign brands are seeing a massive surge in popularity. It seems that Apple is leading this charge, turning around years of slower growth in the region.
The newest data shows that people in the country are choosing a new iPhone much more often than local options right now, even as the broader phone industry faces a noticeable downturn.
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Foreign phone shipments jump while the overall market slows down
According to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, shipments of foreign-branded phones increased by 66 percent from May to June. This brings the total to 3.28 million units shipped for the month. On the flip side, the total smartphone market dropped by 15.3 percent compared to June of last year. Local brands still shipped 19.15 million units in June, but the momentum is clearly shifting toward outside companies.
This upward trend is a welcome change for the tech giant, which previously dealt with a steady drop in Chinese sales. The turnaround actually began earlier in the year. During the March quarter, the company pulled in $20.5 billion from the region. This was an increase of more than $4 billion from the year prior.
Company leadership attributes much of this success to the latest hardware. Recent comments from Tim Cook pointed out that the newest devices have really connected with buyers in the area. Overall sales in the country grew by 38 percent over the past year. This impressive bounce back played a huge role in pushing the company to new financial heights, eventually helping it achieve a record market valuation.
If the company continues to see this kind of demand, it will find itself in a very strong position for the rest of the year. The upcoming launch of its new artificial intelligence features could easily drive these numbers even higher, keeping buyers interested in its ecosystem for the long run.
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