China in the second quarter became the biggest iPhone market in the world, overtaking the United States for the first time in history, based on data analyzed by global market research company TechInsights (via The Elec).
According to the research firm's Global Shipment Report, China accounted for 24% of all iPhone shipments in Q2 2023, while the U.S. market accounted for 21%.
The sluggish U.S. smartphone market in the second quarter is said to have been due to the psychology of consumers delaying the purchase of new phones in anticipation of new iPhone models launching in the second half of this year. However, TechInsight said its results at the same time reflected "China's [growing] economic power, the burgeoning middle class, and the premium phone preferences of Chinese consumers."
iPhone 14 Pro Max Was Best-Selling Model
Asian consumers have long been known to prefer larger-sized smartphones, and a separate analysis suggests this factor may have boosted overall sales of iPhone 14 Pro Max models. According to Omdia's Smartphone Model Market Tracker for 2Q23, in the January-to-June period, Apple's iPhone 14 Pro Max shipped 26.5 million units globally — the most out of any model from any manufacturer. The iPhone 14 Pro came in second place with 21 million units.
There were no devices from Chinese manufacturers in the top 10, following double-digit declines from 2022 due to a slump in the mid- to low-end smartphone market. Last year, the iPhone 13 was the bestselling device on the market, indicating a preference among consumers for entry-level rather than top-end devices. The landscape appears to have changed since then, with successive smartphones offering incremental upgrades over wholesale changes and a growing malaise among consumers pushing them to higher-end models.
That trend is expected to continue, and Apple will likely milk the situation this year by further differentiating between its iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro lineup. Not only is Apple expected to make its new, more powerful A17 processor exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro, the company is also expected to segment its higher tier options by reserving periscope zoom lens technology for the top-end iPhone 15 Pro Max as a standout feature.
Code discovered in Apple's backend by Nicolás Alvarez and shared with MacRumors confirms Apple's plans to release four iPhone 16 models this year, and it indicates that the devices will all have the same A-series chip. There are mentions of new model numbers that are not associated with existing iPhones, and that have the numbering scheme Apple uses for its flagship devices. The code...
The upcoming iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be the first Apple smartphones to adopt Samsung's high performance "M14" OLED display panel, claims a new report coming out of South Korea. According to ETNews, Samsung's "M" series of OLED panels are made for flagship smartphones, while "14" refers to the number of high-performance materials used to produce them. "M14" is the first...
Apple today reclassified the iPhone X, first-generation HomePod, and first-generation AirPods as "vintage" products. The products appeared on Apple's vintage and obsolete products list earlier today. Products are considered vintage when Apple stopped distributing them for sale more than five and less than seven years ago. Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers continue to offer...
Two years after Apple paid $50 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over faulty MacBook butterfly keyboards, funds from the settlement will be going out to affected customers. An update on the MacBook Keyboard Litigation Settlement website says that the court issued a payment order on June 27, 2024, with payments set to be issued for approved claims by August 2024. Emails about the...
Apple eventually plans to turn some of its artificial intelligence features into paid services, similar to iCloud+ subscriptions, according to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman. Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman said that while Apple Intelligence will be free to start, Apple's long-term plan is to launch something like "Apple Intelligence+," with extra features that users pay...
Wednesday June 26, 2024 6:59 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's upcoming iOS 18 software update is packed with features for supported iPhones, but it also promises to make your AirPods Pro experience better with a handful of sophisticated new capabilities that draw from machine learning improvements and AI enhancements. The following five AirPods Pro features are expected to arrive later this year, when iOS 18 is released to the general public in ...
I many Asian countries it is expected that you always buy the most expensive stuff that you can afford. So if you do not have an expensive phone, people will think you are poor and have less respect for you. The same is true for clothes, cars, houses and other stuff.
So, it's basically the same as in Western countries.
I many Asian countries it is expected that you always buy the most expensive stuff that you can afford. So if you do not have an expensive phone, people will think you are poor and have less respect for you. The same is true for clothes, cars, houses and other stuff. That is typical in economies that are quite new to capitalism and have a huge GPD growth.
People in China pay insane amounts of money on luxury brands, even if they can hardly afford them. It might take a few more decades before they will realize that buying things to impress other people is a waste of money. Until then they will buy a lot of much too expensive cars and other stuff.
Most Chinese do not really have the money to afford an iPhone, but they will do it anyway because of social pressure. Of course there are many rich people in China, but only 100 million or so of the 1.4 billion have an income that would be considered at least average in a western country.
In China you can even buy phone cases that make other phones look like an iPhone. That shocked me very much.
I many Asian countries it is expected that you always buy the most expensive stuff that you can afford. So if you do not have an expensive phone, people will think you are poor and have less respect for you. The same is true for clothes, cars, houses and other stuff. That is typical in economies that are quite new to capitalism and have a huge GPD growth.
People in China pay insane amounts of money on luxury brands, even if they can hardly afford them. It might take a few more decades before they will realize that buying things to impress other people is a waste of money. Until then they will buy a lot of much too expensive cars and other stuff.
Most Chinese do not really have the money to afford an iPhone, but they will do it anyway because of social pressure. Of course there are many rich people in China, but only 100 million or so of the 1.4 billion have an income that would be considered at least average in a western country.
In China you can even buy phone cases that make other phones look like an iPhone. That shocked me very much.
Apple products & iPhone in particular, have been aspirational products since their launch, it's hardly surprising that people in many country's aspire to have the best. Also the fact is, that Apple products last twice as long as Android & PC, so smart people recognise, that long term, they're actually cheaper and better value for money. For instance I've got a MacBook Pro 13" M1, it's almost 3 years old, never gone wrong on me and it's still worth over £500, I would be lucky to get £150 for an equivalent PC. My 13 Pro is still worth over £700 after 2 years and so on......
