Apple continues its commandeering control of the smartphone market in Japan. Sales data captured in the first quarter of 2023 claims that the iPhone represented more than half of all smartphone sales in the East Asian country, according to a machine-translated report by IDC Japan (via Mac Otakara).
iPhone sales continue to fare well in a declining market as Japan grapples with unprecedented inflation rates much like the rest of the world. According to the report, overall smartphone shipments declined by 23.7% compared to the year-ago quarter, topping at 7.59 million units. Apple saw a sales decline of 13.1% YoY to around 4.17 million units, whereas Android’s decline was understandably much steeper, shrinking to 3.42 million units, or 33.6% YoY.
Apple’s top spot in the Japanese smartphone market remains uncontested, as iPhone sales represented 55% of all smartphones sold in the country in Q1 2023. Sharp took the second spot with 1 million units shipped at a share of 13%, whereas Apple’s bitter rival Samsung represented only 6% of all smartphone sales, coming in at fifth with just under 450,000 units sold. This is behind other local vendors like FCNT and Kyocera, which captured shares at 8.1% and 7.5%, respectively.
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However, it’s not all good news for Apple. The report notes that Japanese consumers are opting for older and more affordable iPhone models with lower storage capacities instead of the latest iPhone 14 lineup. Most iPhones sold in Japan are those with 64GB of storage, representing nearly 80% of all Japanese iPhone shipments, adds the report.
This likely means that most Japanese consumers prefer older iPhones such as the iPhone 11, iPhone 12, and third-generation iPhone SE, as those are still available with 64GB capacities. Apple switched to a base storage of 128GB with the iPhone 13, as the report notes that buyers in other countries are beginning to prefer 256GB storage capacities.
