Aug 1, 2022: -Apple’s smartphone shipments in China increased sharply in the second quarter, even as the country experienced Covid-related lockdowns in significant cities, according to a recent report.

In the second quarter, Apple is shipping 9.9 million iPhones in China, up 25% yearly, market research firm Canalys said.

UBS analysts said that Apple probably experienced almost 25% year-on-year growth in iPhone shipments in China in the second quarter of 2022, in a note published sooner.

In China, the Cupertino giant held up relatively nicely in the April to June period despite a 10% recession in the country’s overall smartphone market due to a resurgence in Covid, which sent major cities such as Shanghai into strict lockdowns.

“Apple has also been enjoying resilient demand in the high-end segment, despite the extreme lockdowns in its key cities,” Toby Zhu, an analyst at Canalys, said in a press release. “The vendor’s active marketing during the promotional period has also been a key contributing factor.”

In early June, Shanghai and Beijing began to relax their lockdown measures, and most of Apple’s growth in China came in the month. UBS forecasts that June iPhone shipments surged 227% year-on-year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the reopening of cities and a major weeks-long shopping festival called “618” culminating on June 18 allowed the June recovery.

“We did see a sawemand based on the Covid lockdowns in the cities that the Caffected by the Covid lockdowns sees a rebound in those same cities towards the quarter ends in the June timeframe,” Cook said on Apple’s profits call.

“And in particular, in the run-up to June 18, a major shopping holiday in China,” he further said.

“We think that the net of that was still a negative, but a few of it did rebound by June time frame.”

Apple on Thursday reported Greater China’s revenue, which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong, declined 1% year on year to $14.6 billion.

The company said its services revenue, which includes sales from its App Store and Apple Music, reached a June quarter record.