Apple Chief Says China to be Biggest iPhone Market

“China is currently our second largest market. I believe it will become our first. I believe strongly that it will,” the Xinhua News Agency quoted Cook as saying in an interview.

The report gave no details of when Cook thought China might pass the United States. Apple Inc. spokespeople in China did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Apple has said sales in China more than doubled in 2010 and 2011 though growth has slowed in the past year.

Apple’s iPhones, iPads and other gadgets are popular with China’s highest-earning consumers but its fast-growing smartphone market is dominated by handsets that use rival Google’s Android system.

Cook was in Beijing to meet with Chinese regulators and managers of state-owned China Unicom, the first Chinese carrier to support Apple’s iPhone.

Xinhua said Cook did not respond to rumours Apple might be developing a lower-cost iPhone for developing markets such as China.

Also in Beijing, Cook met the chairman of China Mobile, the world’s biggest phone carrier, with more than 700 million subscribers. China Mobile has no agreement to support the iPhone, and adding it as a partner would help Apple increase its appeal in China.

– AP