Apple sees 16% sales growth in China during mid-year shopping festival

The iPhone was the fourth most popular smartphone choice in China during a shopping festival and sales increased by 16%.

China has been a tough market for Apple with the iPhone 12. Reports have shown that while popular, it isn't achieving sales records like the iPhone X or other devices before it.

According to research from Counterpoint, China's smartphone sales rebounded year-over-year during the mid-year shopping festival. The smartphone market grew 7% and saw Huawei and Honor plummet from the top-two market share to fifth and sixth.

Smartphone brands by Chinese market share in the first three weeks of June. Image credit: Counterpoint

Apple is now in fourth place in sales share when examining the first three weeks of June. Over the period, Apple held 14% versus Vivo with 23%, Oppo with 21%, and Xiaomi with 20% market share.

Despite all of the churn among top smartphone brands, Apple only grew a single percent in market share when examined on a yearly basis — from 13% in 2020 to 14% in 2021. The research says Apple's iPhone 12 was discounted during the shopping festival, which lead to a 16% YoY increase in sales during the period.

The increase in YoY sales of the iPhone is likely being held up by continuing demand for 5G smartphones. Apple's iPhone 12 lineup are the first Apple products with 5G.

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