The iPhone is staging a major comeback in China… and that’s before Apple has sold even one smartphone through the country’s largest wireless carrier. New data from Counterpoint Research show that Apple’s iPhone has seen a major resurgence in China over the past couple of months as its market share in the country has jumped from under 5% in September 2013 to around 12% in October 2013. This surge in iPhone sales, which unsurprisingly coincided with the launch of the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c, vaulted Apple from sixth place all the way up to third place in just the span of a month.
The only other vendors in China that have larger market shares than Apple now are Samsung and Lenovo, both of which have made their reputations selling Android-based devices. This has to be particularly encouraging news for Apple, which later this month will likely launch the iPhone on China Mobile and thus make its flagship smartphone available to another 750 million potential users.
Counterpoint’s chart of smartphone market share in China follows below.