Apple is seeing huge demand for iPhones in China, a positive sign as the company heads into the expected launch of a new version of its flagship product sometime in September.
In a research note, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty writes that based on disclosures from China’s Academy for Information and Communications Technology, she estimates Apple’s (ticker: AAPL) iPhone shipments in China in July were up 79% on a year-over-year basis, while China’s own handset vendors saw just a 27% increase over the same period. She also estimates that Apple grew its share of the installed base of smartphones in China by 90 basis points in the latest month to 20.7%, a 27-month high. (A basis point is 1/100th of a percentage point.)
Huberty estimates that both Samsung Electronics and Huawei Technologies lost market share in China in the latest month, with small market-share gains for the domestic phone makers Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi.
She says that the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro Max are the most popular models in China, but that iPhone 11 sales remain “resilient.”
“We believe these data points support our view that the iPhone can see continued shipment strength after the launch of the new iPhone 13 model” this fall, she writes.