What you need to know
- Bloomberg believes iPhone shipments grew almost 19%.
- The data is based on government data and Android shipment numbers.
- The release of iPhone 11 is believed to be the cause.
Apple's iPhone saw significant gains in shipment numbers in China, according to a new Bloomberg report.
That report claims an almost-19% increase in shipments, likely thanks to the arrival of iPhone 11 in September.
The iPhone maker's shipments in China grew 18.7% year on year in December to roughly 3.18 million units, according to Bloomberg calculations based on government data on overall and Android device shipments. The increase marked an acceleration from the prior months, which were buoyed by the iPhone 11's release in September. The numbers come from the China Academy of Information and Communication Technology, a government think tank.
Apple has already seen strong numbers from China, with demand for iPhone increasing 230% in September alone. The arrival of iPhone 11 was deemed to be the cause then, and that demand appears to have continued through the end of 2019. UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri believed at the time that there were several factors for the strong showing of 2019 iPhones.
Several factors are contributing to strong iPhone demand including a better trade-in program from Apple, a more attractive price-point for the base model, services bundle with hardware, and given the largest mix of phones in the install base (iPhone 7) is three generations old.
Whatever the reasons, Apple's laughing all the way to the bank.
