Apple Inc. had more sales in China than Chinese PC giant Lenovo during the June quarter, according to some back-of-the-napkin math by The Financial Times of London. Apple turned in sales for “greater China” during the June quarter of US$3.8 billion, while Lenovo, the world’s third largest maker of PCs, turns in sales of $2.8 billion.
The comparison requires all of Apple’s products—including Macs, iPhones, and iPad—to be compared to just Lenovo’s PC business, but at the same time, that’s all of Lenovo’s products, too. The company makes desktop and portable PCs. When it comes to unit sales of PCs vs. Macs, Lenovo crushed Apple many times over.
Another oddity in the comparison is that Apple lumps in sales of the People’s Republic of China (PRC—also known as “mainland China”) with Hong Kong and Taiwan. Lenovo reports sales in Hong Kong and Taiwan separately.
Still, Jenny Lai, head of Taiwan Research at HSBC, told FT that sales in those two markets, Hong Kong and Taiwan, weren’t high enough to bridge the $1 billion gap between the two companies. In other words, though the comparison is a bit wonky, Apple does more in business in the PRC than home grown PC giant Lenovo, which is an incredible feat.
The reality, however, is that Lenovo is growing its business swiftly, at least in terms of unit sales. The company saw its unit sales rise by 30.8% in the U.S.. In China, Lenovo reported a 23.4% increase in unit sales, and the company claimed 31.7% market share in the PRC’s PC market.