iPhone sales in Mainland China may have just hit a new record

Source: Joseph Keller / iMore

The iPhone 13 seems to be a hit in Mainland China.

In a new note to investors from JP Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee, via AppleInsider, the latest smartphone data coming out of Mainland China is looking very good for the iPhone. New data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology covering the month of January that iPhone shipments were much higher than normal.

Shipments of international devices in the country, which are mostly made up of Apple iPhones, clocked in at 7.3 million in January. That’s well above the historical average of 4.8 million units for the month of January.

In addition, Chatterjee notes that January 2022 was Apple’s best quarter for smartphone sales in January since 2015.

Shipments in January increased 49% month-over-month, though still decreased 24% seasonally from December.

According to Chatterjee, smartphone shipments in China have been tracking at 20% higher year-over-year since October of 2021.

Despite the fact that international smartphone sales in China appear to be booming, the analyst notes that the market as a whole in the country tracked below typical seasonality. Total mobile phone shipments decreased 1% month-over-month between December and January.

Shipments of 5G-equipped smartphones also decreased 3% from December and 4% year-over-year. CAICT’s data indicates that 26.3 million 5G-equipped smartphones were shipped in January.

Apple’s oversized performance in China is certainly due to the success of the iPhone 13 series which the company released in the fall of last year. Apple is also anticipated to be announcing a new generation of iPhone SE at a rumored event in March.