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APPLE IS EXPECTED to announce that it has sold more iPhones in China than the US during 2014.
Increased availability, thanks to a deal with China’s biggest telecom provider, and strong sales of the iPhone 6 allowed it to reach this turning point, according to the Financial Times.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said he expected China to overtake the US as Apple’s single largest source of revenue back in 2013. At the end of that year, Apple struck a deal with China Mobile to bring its collection of iPhones to the market.
Before then, it had relied on smaller carriers to sell iPhones, but striking a deal with a carrier that has an estimated 760 million subscribers and deal with increased competition from lower-cost Android devices.
While the iPhone has performed well in China, the market is still dominated by lower-priced devices.
Chinese company Xiaomi is the biggest company there, having sold 61.1 million handsets and bringing in a total of €10.1 billion in revenue in 2014. The company has been accused of copying Apple in the design of its smartphones and tablets, and Apple’s chief designer Jony Ive calling the similarities “theft” and “lazy”.
Apple’s biggest rival, Samsung, had a less than perfect 2014 as its profits stumbled. It decided to cut the number of devices it makes by up to a third, focusing more on quality.
Apple will hold its earnings call for the latest quarter tomorrow.
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This maybe linked to the fact that China has way more people. Just a thought.
Correct. Madness that a country with four times the population buys more phones…
I’m sure the US is still way ahead of any other country with iPhones sold per capita
The most populous country in the world coupled with the fact the Chinese love there gadgets I would have never even considered another country to be the top iphone buyers.
They pretty much has the same customer base as hello kitty from what I can see .
Do you guys work hard – to miss the point?
And maybe doesn’t cost as much as here.
Still at least 5000 yuan / 700 euros. Silly money. Sure you’d get a better spec android for half that.
One thing I have learned traveling poor countries is that the price of electronics never changes. When they look at the price of an Iphone in a shop it most be like us looking at a brand new Ferrari.
Ireland
I taught china would be there home turf seen as they are made there,,
have your say