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| Strong initial sales of iPhone 13 in China |
Chinese consumers have placed more than 2 million orders for the new iPhone 13 series through JD's official Apple Store.
That surpassed 1.5 million pre-orders for the iPhone 12 series on the same platform a year ago, as the world's largest smartphone market had fewer high-end models to offer amid Huawei's demise.
With Huawei still subject to US trade sanctions and unable to deliver equally compelling high-end phones, the iPhone 13 series of phones will become the best smartphone in China this year.
In addition, no smartphone in the $776 price range can pose a threat to the new iPhone lineup in the Chinese market. There is no product that can be as powerful as the old Huawei Mate series.
In July, Huawei released its latest flagship Android smartphones, P50 and P50 Pro, but due to restrictions on the company's inability to use the latest US technology, it does not support 5G mobile.
Consumers are also interested in the new line of iPhone products on Alibaba Group's Tmall platform, which began taking pre-orders on Friday with the start of official Apple sales.
Many consumers sign up to chat with customer service through Tmall, and some are waiting in line for about 60 people to process their orders.
The price of the new iPhone 13 model is lower than the price of the iPhone 12 model, which surprised many Chinese consumers.
iPhone 13 lineup shows positive signs in China
The new iPhone mini model starts in China at $804. The base iPhone costs $927. The iPhone Pro is priced at $1,237. That makes it $45 to $125 cheaper than similar models in the iPhone 12 series.
This strategy allows to increase the total sales of smartphones in the market. Smartphone shipments in China fell 17% to 74.9 million units in the second quarter. Compared to 90.7 million units a year ago.
The void left by Huawei, which has been blacklisted in the US, cannot be filled by other major US Android manufacturers.
Huawei is the world's largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer. It was once the largest seller of smartphones in China and has been one of the main victims of the escalating tensions between the United States and China.
The company is now struggling with the tightening restrictions last year. It also means that chips with American technology are being developed or manufactured from all over.
At the same time, Apple continues to thrive in China. Research firm Canalys ranked it as the fourth-largest smartphone vendor in the market in the second quarter, after Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi.
The world's most valuable company has sales of $14.8 billion in the Greater China region. Including Hong Kong and Taiwan for the quarter ending June 26.
This represents a 58.2% increase from $9.3 billion over the same period last year. This is due to the strong sales of the iPhone 12. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in July.