The iPhone 13 is already showing early solid sales in China

September 17, 2021: According to a South China Morning Post report published on Thursday, more Chinese consumers are rushing to order Apple’s latest iPhone now than the previous year.

The paper reported that more than 2 million pre-orders had been placed for the iPhone 13 through Apple’s official store on Chinese online retailer JD.com. It added that compared to last year’s 1.5 million pre-orders of the iPhone 12 on the site. The South China Morning Post also reported that consumer interest appears high on Alibaba’s Tmall platform, which starts pre-orders Friday.

China remains one of Apple’s important markets, and any signs of sales growth will be vital going into the holiday quarter. It’s also a signal that there’s still strong interest in the iPhone 13, even though it’s a relatively minor upgrade over last year’s model.

On Tuesday, Apple unveiled its latest iPhone at a virtual event. The iPhone 13 has a smaller display cutout, or “notch,” at the top of the screen, as well as larger batteries that provide the devices with between 1.5 and 2.5 more hours of battery life than the previous year’s models, which depends on device size, Apple said.

Its camera modules are also arranged diagonally. Otherwise, the new model doesn’t have a vastly different outward appearance.

Investors haven’t appeared to be swayed by an event on Tuesday. The company’s stock is relatively flat for the week.

The South China Morning Post pointed toward weak competition in China as one of the factors that will pre-orders. The paper said Apple’s competitor in China, Huawei, has struggled under trade sanctions and hasn’t produced a similar premium phone.