iPhone 8 Plus was Taiwan’s best-selling smartphone last month, Apple #1 brand

64GB and 256GB editions of Apple’s iPhone 8 Plus filed as the best-selling smartphones in Taiwan in September, according to a new supply chain report.

DigiTimes reported Tuesday that strong sales of the iPhone 8 series earned Apple a commanding lead with a 26.1 precent share of the local market in terms of sales volume.

Apple also was first in terms of sales value, accounting for 52.7 percent of device sales value in the market, a sharp increase from 36.4 percent in August.

This makes the Cupertino firm Taiwan’s top smartphone brand.

Galaxy Note 8 was Taiwan’s best-selling Android smartphone in September, replacing the top-selling model in August—the R11 from Oppo.

Sales of smartphones in the Taiwanese market totaled 587,000 units in September, down 0.3 percent from the previous month and 14.18 percent from a year earlier period.

According to data compiled by local retail channels, Samsung Electronics ranked second with a 21.1 percent share in sales volume, followed by Asustek Computer (12.6 percent), Oppo (8.2 percent), Sony Mobile Communications (7.5 percent) and HTC (7.2 percent).

Here’s a list of Taiwan’s top ten best-selling smartphones in September:

  1. iPhone 8 Plus 64GB
  2. iPhone 8 Plus 256GB
  3. Galaxy Note 8
  4. iPhone 8 64GB
  5. Oppo R11
  6. Galaxy J7 Prime
  7. Galaxy J7 Pro
  8. ZenFone Live
  9. iPhone 7 Plus 128GB
  10. Oppo A77

In terms of sales value, Samsung came in second with a 21.7 percent share, up from 18.2 percent in the previous month, followed by Sony Mobile (6.1 percent), Oppo (5.5 percent), Asustek (5.2 percent) and HTC (four percent).

Customers across Asia generally prefer larger-screened phones so that’s why the Plus variant of iPhone 8 rather than its 4.7-inch counterpart has proved so popular with buyers in Taiwan. Of course, iPhone 8 Plus also offers a dual-lens rear camera that can simulate professional studio lighting with Apple’s new Portrait Lighting shooting mode.