China

Android grabs 90 percent of China’s smartphone market

Ed Sutherland ∙ November 16, 2012

The world is full of ironies. The latest comes from China, whose government frequently blocks most of Google's properties. Yet, inside the country, more than 90 percent of smartphones run Android. Not laughing is Apple, with just a single-digit share of this enormous market. Specifically, Android's share hit 90.1 percent mark in Q3 2012.

At the same time, iOS recorded just a 4.2 share, new research finds. Seemingly at the heart of problem for Apple: price. While the average price of an Android-powered handset is $179, the iPhone carries a $726 average price tag. The iPhone 5 can't hit Chinese shelves too soon...

China iPad sales up 80 percent on ProView deal

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 16, 2012

Following the successful trademark dispute resolution with ProView over the iPad moniker, Apple's tablet sales in the 1.33 billion people market surged 80 percent, a new survey has it. Apple, as you know, back in July ended its legal spat with China's bankrupt monitor maker by paying $60 million in exchange for ownership of the iPad name in China.

That deal has paved the way for the July 20 iPad launch in the country. According to an IDC research note issued Friday, iPad shipments in China nearly doubled following that deal.

An estimated 2.07 million units of the iPad were sold in China during the third quarter of this year versus the 1.15 million shipments in the previous quarter. Lenovo is a distant second with 278,000 tablet shipments. Samsung? It's ranked as third with only 143,000 units moved...

Analyst: sales of iPads and iPhones to skyrocket over the next six months

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

It appears Apple's marquee products - the iPhone 5 and iPad mini - are just hitting their stride. After initial questions over suppliers and build quality prompted sputtering sales, demand for the two devices is expected to skyrocket over the next two quarters. After talking with Apple suppliers, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty told investors Thursday that she believes the Cupertino, California company will beat Wall Street expectations, fueled by lower-priced parts, the growth of China and the addition of upcoming Apple Stores in Brazil, a first for the country...

Apple appeals recent Chinese court ruling over pirated encyclopedia app

Cody Lee ∙ November 14, 2012

Back in September, a Chinese court sided with China Publishing House in an infringement lawsuit against Apple, and ordered the iPad-maker to pay about $83,000 in damages. The publisher claimed Apple allowed an application into its App Store that contained large chunks if its Encyclopedia of China works without the proper licensing.

Naturally, Apple is now appealing the decision. And what the court decides from here could have some major consequences for the Cupertino company...

China Telecom to offer the iPhone 5 in late November or early December

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 9, 2012

The iPhone 5 should finally make a landfall in the 1.33 billion people market of China via the county's state-owned telco, China Telecom. The Wall Street Journal reports that the carrier should start offering the handset in late November or early December though government officials stopped short of saying when the device might win final approval. It was reported last month that the China State Radio Management agency gave the device a preliminary approval for sale in the country...

The iPhone drops out of China’s top 5 list

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

More than ever before, Apple's iPhone faces relentless competition, namely in markets where Android cheapos are all the rage. China, home to 1.33 billion people, is Apple's fastest-growing market, amounting to an ever-growing portion of its fortunes. But Apple's China problem is two-fold. First, the company's retail presence in such hugely important market leaves a lot to be desired, even with new flagship stores such as the recently introduced massive Beijing outlet. And second, China's buyers have always been price-sensitive. Outside the elite, folks are picking up inexpensive phones in droves, with local Chinese vendors happily providing low-cost handsets...

iPhone 5 gets regulatory approval in China

Cody Lee ∙ October 31, 2012

According to a new report, the China State Radio Management agency, one of China's regulatory agencies, has just given Apple's iPhone 5 the go-ahead for sale in the country.

The news comes about a month after the handset received approval from the China Compulsory Certificate, and about a month ahead of its scheduled December launch...

Apple leaks: increasingly they are made in China

Ed Sutherland ∙ October 22, 2012

If there is one word that is often used to describe Apple it is "secretive." The Cupertino, California firm is legendary for its corporate tight lips. Increasingly, however, there are few secrets left when it comes to Apple products. A number of insiders are blaming Apple's extensive supply chain and companies outside the US.

"Apple's security practices are targeted at making sure U.S. employees don't leak stuff, but everything comes out of China now," an unnamed employee of the iPhone maker told Ars Technica Monday. This inability to ensure suppliers outside the U.S. share the same regard for product secrecy has led Apple to tighten the screws on employees at home - sometimes with questionable results.

NPD: Low-cost smartphone market to double through 2016

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

It's ironic, but the Asian-Pacific region, where many iPhone parts are produced, is a hotbed for an explosion of smartphones priced at less than $150. In a new report, shipments of low-cost smartphones are expected to climb to 311 million units by 2016, up from just 4.5 million now. What's more, by 2016, low-cost smartphones will account for 29 percent of all smartphone sales, according to NPD DisplaySearch. Android - not Apple - is leading the charge with its open-source operating system...

Journalist tours Foxconn’s Shenzhen campus

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

If you were to ask someone what they thought of Foxconn today, chances are their response would be negative. And for good reason. Over the past few years, we've heard horror stories about the manufacturing giant regarding terrible working conditions and child labor, and we've seen the pictures of the windows with prison bars and the suicide nets.

And that's exactly the kind of scene James Fallows, a journalist for The Atlantic, prepared himself for, as he set out on a tour of Foxconn's famous Shenzhen campus. He was ready to see the dark, depressing work environment and the somber, joyless employees that he had read so much about in other reports. But it didn't go at all how he expected...

Apple previews Beijing’s massive new store, the largest in Asia

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 12, 2017

Apple is set to launch a grandiose new store in Beijing this coming Saturday, as we told you earlier. Both Western and local press had a chance to attend a media preview today and boy does the upcoming retail outlet impress. It files as the company's sixth brick-and-mortar store in China and Apple's SVP of Retail John Browett was on hand, taking advantage of the opportunity to confirm that the iPhone maker is also working to open another store in Shenzhen, China, where its contract manufacturer operates plants where Apple products are being assembled...