Apple tops Xiaomi in China smartphone sales as iOS eats into Android’s lead

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Apple's iPhones are drawing Chinese users away from Android devices, research finds. Photo: Imaginechina

Published: 4:04pm, 7 May 2015

Apple topped the Chinese smartphone market in the first quarter, helped by demand for the new iPhone 6, beating local rival Xiaomi in the latest sales numbers.

Kantar Worldpanel ComTech’s latest report gave the US tech giant a 26.1 per cent share of the Chinese smartphone market, 5.1 percentage points higher than Xiaomi.

“In the quarter, Apple represented 25 per cent of smartphone sales in urban China’s 2,000 to 4,000 yuan (US$320 to 640) monthly income bracket, a 10.1 percentage point increase from the same period in 2014,” the report said.

The figures confirm the importance to Apple of sales in China, which overtook the US to become the largest market for iPhones in the first quarter. Sales in China helped propel Apple’s first-quarter revenues to a record US$58 billion. Revenues in China alone grew 71 per cent in the quarter, the US company reported last month.

China's State Internet Information Office forecast that about 500 million Chinese, more than one third of the total population, will buy smartphones this year. The strong demand has prompted a number of companies to enter the market, including many from outside the traditional phone business.

Smartphone inventories reached 780 million units in China last year, increasing by 34.3 per cent over 2013, according to iResearch Consulting Group.