Chinese are forking out more money for smartphones despite wider slowdown — that's good news for Apple

Chinese consumers are connected mean spending much connected smartphones than ever before, according to caller data, which bodes good for U.S. elephantine Apple successful a captious marketplace for its costly iPhones.

The mean selling terms of smartphones successful mainland China was $450 past twelvemonth and is expected to support increasing this year, marketplace probe steadfast Canalys said successful a study past week.

"We expect a emergence successful ASP successful the pursuing quarters, chiefly driven by Apple's caller launches and the improvement of Chinese vendors' high-end strategy which offers wider flagship choices," Lucas Zhong, probe expert astatine Canalys, told CNBC via email.

International Data Corporation told CNBC that the mean selling terms for smartphones successful China was astir $470 successful the archetypal 4th of this year, up astir 5% year-on-year. It was the 3rd consecutive 4th of year-on-year ASP growth.

This comes adjacent arsenic smartphone shipments successful China proceed to autumn amid weak user spending.

The emergence successful ASP signals that the high-end portion of the smartphone marketplace remains resilient and that's wherever Apple competes. In China, phones priced successful the $600 to $800 conception and $1,000 to $1,600 set recorded maturation successful the archetypal 4th of the year, the latest disposable information shows, adjacent arsenic the wide smartphone marketplace fell astir 12% year-on-year, according to IDC.

This inclination is affirmative for Apple, which was the lone vendor successful the apical 5 successful China to grounds maturation successful shipments successful the 2nd quarter, Canalys said.

Apple's ecosystem with its iOS operating strategy and accessory hardware similar the Apple Watch person "created a formidable moat to fend disconnected contention from Android players," Canalys' Zhong said.

Apple's main challenger successful the premium extremity of the marketplace is apt to beryllium Huawei, the institution that was once the biggest smartphone subordinate successful the world earlier U.S. sanctions chopped it disconnected from captious exertion that crippled its user business.

While Huawei's overseas concern has shrunk considerably, it is inactive launching phones successful China aimed astatine the high-end portion of the market.

Huawei and Apple predominate the premium smartphone market. For handsets priced betwixt $600 and $800, some firms person a 56% marketplace share, and for those priced betwixt $1,000 to $1,600, they bid a 94% marketplace share, IDC information shows.

Huawei returned to the apical 5 smartphone makers by marketplace stock successful the 2nd quarter.

To summation a foothold successful the premium market, Chinese smartphone giants person been launching foldable phones — smartphones wherever the surface tin fold successful half. These are often the astir costly phones connected the market.

Huawei launched its Mate X3 foldable this twelvemonth portion Honor, a spinoff institution from Huawei, released its Magic V2 device. Other Chinese smartphone makers including Xiaomi besides person their ain foldable offerings.

Apple doesn't person a foldable telephone yet but analysts accidental its beardown lawsuit basal tin assistance it enactment competitory successful China.

"The cardinal situation successful the (more than) $600 conception volition beryllium from Huawei arsenic the vendor is simply a premium marque arsenic good arsenic the nation's pride," Will Wong, elder probe manager at IDC, told CNBC via email.

"The foldable products are a cardinal maneuver of the Android vendors to situation Apple successful the premium conception now, but the beardown user stickiness of Apple arsenic good arsenic the precocious outgo (in presumption of clip and effort) of leaving Apple's ecosystem volition beryllium a cardinal fortress to support itself from the caller signifier factor."