Retailers in the Taiwan area have provided data that notes Apple's first cellphone for the island is already the sixth most popular in the region. The handset launched last month on Chungwa Telecom but now represents 2.2 percent, or 12,012 units, of the 546,000 phones sold in the area during December. Whether or not Apple took share away from competitors isn't known, though three out of the top six lost significant share with second-place Sony Ericsson (18.1 percent), third-place Samsung (17.6 percent) and fifth-place Motorola (8.3 percent) all having lost more than one percent of their share versus November.

Outside of Apple, increases came for market leader Nokia, which moved 0.4 percent upwards to 29.8 percent, while LG was the fastest-moving established phone maker with a lift to 9.6 percent. Taiwan's native HTC also increased share but fell out of the top six with just a single percent of its home territory.

An explanation for Apple's relatively quick start is unknown, though the sales are helped by heavy discounts on the phones themselves with more expensive rate plans and the default unlock on even contract models, letting owners keep the iPhone while switching to other carriers.