Apple Sells Over 2 Million iPhone 5s in China

It was not a cold reception after all for the iPhone 5 in China.

Despite a wintry and mostly deserted launch on Friday in Beijing, Apple said it sold over two million iPhone 5 over the weekend. That’s almost equivalent to the 2.1 million iPhone 4S units it sold in China for the whole of the third quarter, according to statistics from research firm Analysys International.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said in a statement the sales numbers were a new record for "first weekend sales" in China, and that "China is a very important market." Apple’s China sales hit $5.7 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter through September, roughly 16% of the company’s global total.

Demand for the new iPhone indicates Apple still holds considerable cachet among middle- and upper-class Chinese consumers, though its rivals are gaining dominance in the lower-end segment of the market. Many vendors interviewed in recent months said they were confident of good sales once the new iPhone came out, while some others were a bit more worried, pointing to the popularity of high-end smartphones made by companies like Samsung. Sales of the iPhone 4S had also slowed ahead of the iPhone 5′s launch.

China, which passed the U.S. to become the world’s largest smartphone market in the third quarter according to Strategy Analytics, is an important battleground for Apple and makers of Android phones. Phones running Google’s Android operating system claimed 56% of the market for handsets priced above 3,000 yuan in the third quarter, while Apple had 42%, according to Analysys International. Android phones accounted for 2.8 million handsets, while iPhones totaled 2.1 million.

Analysts say Apple will eventually have to contend with falling average prices for smartphones and also work harder to come to terms with China’s largest mobile provider, China Mobile. China Mobile’s unique mobile standard precludes it from offering an iPhone that makes use of its third-generation wireless service.