iPhone demand in China grows tremendously this year, according to analyst

Apple has been experiencing a growing demand for iPhones in China, reports Barrons, and an analyst has stated that Apple's shipments of iPhones to China have not only grown a bit, but they also appear to have grown tremendously since last year.

Apple's iPhone shipments to China are seeing a 79% growth since last year

In a research note, Morgan Stanley Analyst Katy Huberty has estimated iPhone shipments in China in July were up 79% on a year-on-year basis, and this estimation is backed by disclosures from China's Academy for Information and Communications Technology. The same examined period has registered a 27% increase in China's own handset vendors' phone shipments.

Additionally, Huberty estimates that Apple's share of smartphones in China has risen to 20.7%, while both Samsung and Huawei have lost market share in China in recent months. Domestic phone makers Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi are estimated to have gained small market-share gains.

The analyst adds the iPhone 12 and the iPhone 12 Pro Max are the most popular iPhone models in China; nevertheless, the 2019 iPhone 11 is also quite popular and still sells well in the country. She concludes that this growing trend means the iPhone 13, when it launches in the fall, will contribute to a continued shipment strength.

The iPhone 12 series phones are proving to be quite popular

The iPhone 12 cumulative global sales have crossed the 100 million units mark back in April 2021; this milestone was reached by the iPhone 12 in its seventh month since its announcement. The iPhone 11 reached this milestone in its ninth month.

The iPhone 6 back in the days has reached a similar super-cycle mainly due to the switch to 4G and its larger screen; and now, the iPhone 12 is repeating history with the switch to the newer and faster 5G network.

These impressive sales are helping Apple consistently achieve a high market share in the US since October 2020, and this trend is expected to continue in 2021.

Another point from the research was actually the changed preference between the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 lineups, which showed buyers had more interest in the higher-end iPhone 12 Pro Max more than they showed such interest to the iPhone 11 Pro Max. This is also among the reasons why the iPhone 12 series provides about 22% more revenue than the iPhone 11 series in the first seven months.

iPhone 13 is coming, what should we expect?

Well, the iPhone 13 series will be appearing in September, likely around the third week of the month, as some leakers have stated, and the phones are expected to bring notable improvements from the iPhone 12, especially the Pro-versions. Recently, we have heard that the iPhone 12 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro Max might be getting 120Hz refresh rate screens (Pro Motion), or double the storage (1T expected to be a storage option for the Pro iPhone 13).

As expected, the iPhone 13 series will come with an upgraded and more powerful A15 Bionic chip, and reportedly bigger batteries. The bigger battery will be a welcome improvement to the iPhone 13 series if this report turns out to be true. The reported increase in battery size is expected to be around 10% from iPhone 12 battery sizes.

On top of that, research conducted by TrendForce suggests Apple's supercycle will continue into a second consecutive year.