iPhone 12 drives Chinese smartphone market sales bump

Queuing for iPhones is so passes…

Digitimes Research returns with a more realistic sounding analysis of the smartphone market in China, predicting Q4 growth of 25.4% sequentially driven by iPhone 12 and first-tier local brand sales as the Chinese economy quickly recovers in line with its zero-COVID strategy.

Stability is good for business

Apple, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo are seeing growth, the report claims.

Huawei remains the leading vendor. Itself, Apple, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo occupy 97.2% market share (which should give you some idea of what life is like for most other smartphone vendors).

Things have, however, been tough – Q3 smartphone sales fell 25.2% sequentially and 26.2 yoy in face of weak demand and U.S. trade bans.

One more thing:

Apple is “likely to step up one notch to replace Xiaomi as the fourth largest vendor in the quarter,” the report said.

The news comes alongside reports that claim Apple has hugely increased orders for the LiDAR scanners used inside the iPhone 12 in response to greater than anticipated demand, which suggests the scale of that demand has exceeded initial expectations.

Yet another sign of a supercycle?

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