Research firm Kantar Worldpanel reports the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c accounted for 76% of new smartphones sold in Japan in the month of October. That includes a whopping 61% of phones sold by the country’s largest wireless provider, NTT DoCoMo.
Availability of the new iPhone 5s and lower-cost iPhone 5c through DoCoMo marks the first time that Apple’s mobile phones have been offered on the carrier, coming after a July report pointed to a loss of 3.2 million users over the last four and a half years as the carrier did not have a deal with Apple to offer the iPhone. DoCoMo’s losses continued in September with a record loss of 66,800 subscribers, with that drop attributed to a lack of stock of the new iPhone 5s.
DoCoMo launched the new iPhones alongside other Japanese carriers on September 20th.
All three major carriers in Japan have been offering the iPhone 5s free on contract since its launch in September. DoCoMo has also been offering rewards points to customers who bring in used iPhones from competitors SoftBank and KDDI.
