According to a new report from Bloomberg, the iPhone now accounts for more than one-third of Japan’s mobile phone market. Citing data from MM Research Institute Ltd, the outlet says shipments for Apple’s smartphone jumped to 36.6% in the year-ended March.
That’s a sizable jump from the previous year, where the iPhone held some 25% of the market, and it’s all thanks to NTT Docomo. Last September, Apple inked a deal with the company—which is the largest carrier in Japan—to finally start officially offering its handset…
From Bloomberg’s report:
Apple Inc. (AAPL) boosted its share of the Japan mobile-phone market to more than a third after the country’s largest wireless carrier started selling the iPhone.
Apple boosted iPhone shipments in Japan to 36.6 percent of the market in the year ended March, up from 25.5 percent a year earlier, according to Tokyo-based MM Research Institute Ltd. The Cupertino, California-based smartphone maker shipped 14.43 million phones in Japan the past fiscal year, the researcher said.
The numbers aren’t terribly surprising, given that the iPhone has always been fairly popular in Japan. During the October quarter of last year, Counterpoint Research reported that the iPhone 5s/5c outsold all other smartphones 3:1 in the country during the period.
So how did Samsung and other competitors fair in the Japanese market during the past fiscal year? After Apple, Sharp came in second with 13% of the market, and Sony came in third, taking 12.3% with 4.84 million phones shipped. Samsung took the 6th spot, at 5.7%.
Apple continues to grow its smartphone presence in Asia. In addition to the iPhone’s success in Japan, it’s also seen a recent jump in marketshare in China thanks to this year’s China Mobile deal. The company is expected to launch a new handset this fall with a larger display.