Apple Inc. (AAPL) Gets Good News in China as Market Picks Up

Saying that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) wants to become the number one smartphone company in China is nothing new. Cupertino has had its eyes on this prize for quite some time. While there is plenty of competition, and much more to come, it is easy to see that Apple is well on its way to reaching its lofty goal.

International Data Corporation has released a report examining the China smartphone market during the fourth quarter of 2014. As expected, Apple played a major part in the growth of the market.

Here is an excerpt from the report:

“107.5 million smartphones were shipped to China in 2014Q4, representing a 2% Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) growth. This culminates to 420.7 million smartphones being shipped to China in 2014. The market also picked up in 2014Q4, where it saw a Year-on-Year (YoY) growth of 19% in 2014Q4 as compared to 11% in 2014Q3.”

Where does Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Fit In?

These numbers are exciting in an overall sense, but you have to take a closer look at the performance of Apple, and its lineup of iPhones, to get a better idea of what is truly going on.

Tay Xiaohan, a Senior Market Analyst with IDC, added the following:

“Apple’s launch of larger screen sized phones also helped to contribute to the increase in shipments.”

Apple may have been a bit late to the “larger screen party,” but the company is now in the game to the fullest extent.

With 2014 Q4 market share of 12.3 percent, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is quickly closing in on the top spot, which is currently held by Xiaomi with 13.7 percent market share.

This number is impressive in its own right, but there is something else that adds even more excitement. Apple only had 7.4 percent market share in the fourth quarter of 2013. At that time, Samsung was at the top with 18.8 percent market share.

There is a lot going on in the China smartphone market, and we can expect the top players to continue to jockey for position. Apple has surged to the number two spot, and his its eyes on number one.

Could the first quarter of 2015 be the one when Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) finally grabs hold of number one? The answer is coming soon.

Disclosure: none.