Apple iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus sales break Apple's six quarter downtrend in China

While Apple CEO Tim Cook has always discussed China as being an important market for the iPhone, the last two years have seen Apple lose ground in the country. Huawei, Oppoi and Vivo have been on fire in their home country, shipping 22 million, 21 million, and 20 million handsets respectively during the three months that ended in September. For that quarter, Apple shipped roughly 11 million iPhone units in China, which was up 38% from the 8 million shipped during the same quarter last year.

What helped Apple turn things around this year in China was the Apple iPhone 8 and Apple iPhone 8 Plus. The 2017 iPhone models accounted for a larger share of total iPhone sales in China when launched, than the Apple iPhone 7 and Apple iPhone 7 Plus did when they were released in 2016.

The hike in September iPhone shipments in China ended a six quarter downtrend for the handset in the market. But Canalys analyst Mo Jia doesn't expect Apple to continue to report such strong quarters in the country, calling the results "temporary." He says that Apple most likely will not be able to duplicate its Q3 results in Q4 even with the upcoming launch of the Apple iPhone X. The analyst says that due to the tenth anniversary model's high price and the probability that it will be hard to find, Jia believes that the iPhone X "will enjoy a healthy grey market status, but its popularity is unlikely to help Apple in the short term."

The Apple iPhone X will be released in 55 countries on November 3rd, which is this coming Friday. China is one of the markets that will see the device go on sale this coming Friday.

source: AppleInsider