China buys more iPhones than US for first time

Asia's biggest Apple store situated in Wangfujing, Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily]

BEIJING - Strong demand for Apple's latest iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus smartphones has helped the Chinese market outsell the United States for the first time, according to tech news hub pingwest.com citing a report from investment banking firm UBS.

Steven Milunovich, an analyst with UBS, said iPhone demand saw outsized growth in China and China could constitute as much as 35 percent of shipments in the last quarter of 2014, way higher than the 24 percent ratio of the US market. During the same period last year, China's market share was 22 percent.

Apple only began selling iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus in the China market on Oct 17, but Chinese consumers' preference for larger sized phones made the devices the most popular sold in China. Orders reached 10 million within three days after the initial sell date on JD.com, a major e-commerce platform.

The UBS report estimates Apple sold 69.3 million iPhones in the last quarter of 2014, a new quarter record.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said during a trip to China in October that "it's just a matter of time" before China "becomes Apple's biggest revenue contributor." Cook also said Apple would increase its number of Apple retail stores in China from 15 to 40 in the next few years.