Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
This looks good for Apple lovers/users(because of the "clumping together" of iOS and Android activations)... but according to the latest reports only 7% of smartphone activations in China are iPhones.... nearly 30% are Samsung ALONE....
 
Note that their numbers include all Android and iOS "smart devices", from cheap tablets and phones to top of the line models.

It'd be more valuable info if they broke out price ranges and device types.

Definitely!
They need to include bicycles as a device.
 
And I, for one, welcome our new Chinese overlords. I’d like to remind them that as a trusted MacRumors geek, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their call centers and sweatshops.
 
Ah the end of the western empire...while most white people in western country really still think that in 10 years their country will be the most powerful in the world while they attack their minorities and invade other countries, they make me laugh.

Ok, here are the facts:

All western countries are into debts that are so large, they probably will never be paid back unless there is world war to reset, except this time they'll lose.

Meanwhile China has the biggest budget cash pool of the world in their treasury, around $4000 Billions, but most importantly there is 300 millions chinese people of the new middle-class earning more than 3000$/month and it's estimated that in 2016 they will be around 6-700 millions which is more than the whole North American and European population altogether, and not just the minority that earns 3000$/mo...

In short, this is the biggest and main market of the futur for any products or services...and some of the biggest European and American companies are discreetly planning to move their historical headquarters to Shanghai, I wont take the risk to disclose them however so believe me or not.

First world problem? No friend, you don't live in the "first world" anymore
 
What's actually most impressive for Apple is that they at least appear to be holding the line on the pricing side.

When my old company was looking to *stay* in China (they'd been there for decades), we were forced to drop our pricing to literally a few pennies on the dollar.

Every single unit of every single product line would have been sold at a substantial loss.

We got out. For a while there, people were saying "Hey, we'll lose money on each unit but make it up in volume" as a joke.

China is not an attractive place in many situations. The fact that Apple is cleaning up is most impressive.
 
What's actually most impressive for Apple is that they at least appear to be holding the line on the pricing side.

When my old company was looking to *stay* in China (they'd been there for decades), we were forced to drop our pricing to literally a few pennies on the dollar.

Every single unit of every single product line would have been sold at a substantial loss.

We got out. For a while there, people were saying "Hey, we'll lose money on each unit but make it up in volume" as a joke.

China is not an attractive place in many situations. The fact that Apple is cleaning up is most impressive.

What are they cleaning up on? Please elaborate...
 
Ah the end of the western empire...while most white people in western country really still think that in 10 years their country will be the most powerful in the world while they attack their minorities and invade other countries, they make me laugh.

Ok, here are the facts:

All western countries are into debts that are so large, they probably will never be paid back unless there is world war to reset, except this time they'll lose.

Meanwhile China has the biggest budget cash pool of the world in their treasury, around $4000 Billions, but most importantly there is 300 millions chinese people of the new middle-class earning more than 3000$/month and it's estimated that in 2016 they will be around 6-700 millions which is more than the whole North American and European population altogether, and not just the minority that earns 3000$/mo...

In short, this is the biggest and main market of the futur for any products or services...and some of the biggest European and American companies are discreetly planning to move their historical headquarters to Shanghai, I wont take the risk to disclose them however so believe me or not.

First world problem? No friend, you don't live in the "first world" anymore

Wrong.

1. The biggest cause of death in China is cancer. That means widespread environmental degradation which is horribly expensive to clean up.

2. The one child policy. It began in the early 80s so in 20 years, millions of only children will be caring for their elderly parents. The drag on the Chinese economy will be incalculable. Even Japan has better demographics.

3. The preference for male babies. This has led to hundreds of millions of young men who will never be able to find a spouse. Unless of course they can buy one from abroad. Unhappy young men inevitably lead to social unrest.
 
Ah the end of the western empire...while most white people in western country really still think that in 10 years their country will be the most powerful in the world while they attack their minorities and invade other countries, they make me laugh.

Ok, here are the facts:

All western countries are into debts that are so large, they probably will never be paid back unless there is world war to reset, except this time they'll lose.

Meanwhile China has the biggest budget cash pool of the world in their treasury, around $4000 Billions, but most importantly there is 300 millions chinese people of the new middle-class earning more than 3000$/month and it's estimated that in 2016 they will be around 6-700 millions which is more than the whole North American and European population altogether, and not just the minority that earns 3000$/mo...

In short, this is the biggest and main market of the futur for any products or services...and some of the biggest European and American companies are discreetly planning to move their historical headquarters to Shanghai, I wont take the risk to disclose them however so believe me or not.

First world problem? No friend, you don't live in the "first world" anymore

Don't get too far ahead of yourself there. China's "cash pool" of $4 trillion is insignificant in size compared to the cash pool of U.S. companies and its citizens. If China distributed its cash to China's 600 million impoverished peasants, each would have about $7,000. That is far less wealth than the average American or European has. It looks like a big number and it is but it is basically because the Chinese government takes a cut out of everything. The U.S. has that same money and much more, but it is in privately owned companies and its citizenry.

And don't get so excited about company debt. There is a reason that the U.S. can borrow at rates that might be below the rate of inflation. The U.S. could end its deficits in a few years by nothing more than reverting to the tax rates under Ronald Reagan. Paying off the $12 trillion debt would take a while, but the only real reason we have it is that the citizens don't really like being taxed much. It is a question of political will, not lack of actual ability. China's production ability and GDP is still much smaller than the U.S. as well. True, we waste a ton of our money on things like two wars. But China does as well on numerous bridges to nowhere and housing projects and office buildings for no one.

And don't forget your history. China's big, but you are also probably due for a peasant revolt one of these days. There is a tremendous amount of corruption and party officials living opulent lifestyles, while peasants work for peanuts. They might not stand for this forever. Though to be frank, a shake up like that might actually make China stronger in the long run.
 
IIRC, hasn't Apple aligned its fortunes (at least initially) with the (much) smaller of the two major carriers in China?
 
To the best of my knowledge, most users in China do not have desktop or laptop computers. They also do not have landline telephones.

Therefore, for many of these users, their Android Phone or iPhone is their sole computer. This is why Steve Jobs was so concerned about crushing Android, even if it meant using their entire stockpile of cash (now at $100 billion).

Today's battle over the phone/tablet is bigger than that waged by Microsoft in the early to mid 1990's. With open standards such as HTML on the front-end and XML on the back-end, its perfectly capable that neither platform will "win" with over 90% marketshare as Microsoft had done with the desktop. With the battle of the desktop, many developers refused to make software for the Mac. With smartphones and tablets, that is less likely to be the end result of either "losing" platform as web development apps works nearly everywhere.

Anyhow, to think that millions of Chinese users are using an iPhone as their sole computer is pretty amazing.

to the best of my best knowledge, you don't know anything about China
 
Wrong.

1. The biggest cause of death in China is cancer. That means widespread environmental degradation which is horribly expensive to clean up.

2. The one child policy. It began in the early 80s so in 20 years, millions of only children will be caring for their elderly parents. The drag on the Chinese economy will be incalculable. Even Japan has better demographics.

3. The preference for male babies. This has led to hundreds of millions of young men who will never be able to find a spouse. Unless of course they can buy one from abroad. Unhappy young men inevitably lead to social unrest.

All excellent points. There will also be an equalization factor. As their income grows, they have more purchasing power and can purchase American and other Western goods. It will also become more viable to make goods in America (because wages in America are now more competitive, it's good PR and less of a hassle). The variable in the question is just competition for resources: food, energy, minerals, etc.
 
I think your right

Today the Chinese activate more iOS devices... tomorrow the PLA march on Washington. Your empire is crumbling, America.

Yes, there sending the Peoples Liberation Army (Now a debt collection agency) to try and collect all the money we owe them. Thanks Politicians and completely narcissistic, uninterested populace. :p
 
What I find so disturbing about all of this isn't so much that China is well on it's way to becoming a new superpower. No. What's freaking me out is all the people here who seem to be just...so excited about the potential fall of western civilization.

Go China! Kick our butts! I can't wait!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.