Apple reaches all-time sales high in China

The iPhone 6 has pushed Apple to an all-time sales high in urban China, where it now holds 28pc of the market

Sales of Apple's iPhones have reached an all-time high in urban China, where iOS devices now account for 27.6 per cent of the market.

Within urban China, the iPhone 6 was the best-selling smartphone of the past three months, growing its market share to 10.2 per cent, according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

The Xiaomi RedMI Note was the second best-selling handset, followed by the iPhone 6 Plus.

Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, said the strong appetite for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sparked by the launch has continued into the Chinese new Year.

“Across key global markets Apple’s momentum generally continued from last month, with market share gains in all markets except the US and Japan,” she said.

Across Europe, Android’s share declined by 2.9 percentage points year-on-year to 67.6 per cent, while iOS rose by 2.9 per cent.

In Great Britain, sales of the Samasung Galaxy S5 rose ahead of the release of the new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge handsets next Friday.

Android now accounts for 52.6 per cent of the UK's operating system market, while iOS is now up to 38.6 per cent. Windows Phone has 7.8 per cent, and other systems including BlackBerry account for one per cent.