For a little while there, reports on Apple's global iPhone 13 series demand were somewhat conflicting, as analysts and supply chain sources couldn't seem to agree on just how badly the widespread component shortages felt across the industry would impact this particular tech giant's production output.
As it turns out, the 5G-enabled iPhone 13, 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max, and 13 mini were attractive enough to convince prospective buyers around the world to wait pretty much however long it took for Apple to fulfil their orders, thus ending the holiday quarter in a comfortable market-leading position.
Of course, waiting times were never that bad, crucially contributing among others to a Q4 performance for the history books in China. While the full regional quarterly results are not in yet, Counterpoint Research has Apple in the lead in its latest preliminary report for no less than six consecutive weeks at the very end of 2021.
Just look at that huge year-end gap between Apple and everyone else!
Cupertino's advantage over Vivo and Oppo was by no means narrow, mind you, almost definitely securing the company the overall Q4 2021 victory by a solid margin. For its part, Vivo did hold on to a small lead for a few weeks around Singles' Day, but the steady appeal of the iPhone 13 family and growing iPhone 12 discounts brought back and then consolidated Apple's top position.
It's perhaps needless to highlight just how important the world's single largest smartphone market is for a company like Apple, especially when adding it to the US, which is another huge market where iPhones are always tremendously successful.
Apple, mind you, ranked fifth in China during Q3 2021 and fourth in Q4 2020, obviously taking advantage of Huawei's free fall and Samsung's inability to make an impact around those parts en route to this somewhat surprising (or at least surprisingly clear) domination.
Even by the lowest possible expectations, that's a pitiful number for the iPhone 13 mini.
What's certainly unsurprising is that the base iPhone 13 5G proved to be the family's most popular member in China since its commercial debut, accounting for a larger proportion of sales than the other three variants combined. The iPhone 13 Pro Max came in second, closely followed by its little Pro brother, while the iPhone 13 mini is... almost not worth mentioning.
Naturally, the iPhone 13 lineup managed to outsell its predecessor during their respective first few months of regional availability, and due to the inescapable aforementioned chip shortages, some of that record-breaking demand could well spill into the early stages of 2022, helping Apple to stand its ground against local heroes Vivo and Oppo.
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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