Apple Is China's Most Desirable Luxury Brand

Apple has become the most preferred gift choice among the country's richest this year, beating Louis Vuitton and Hermès, according to a report published by luxury publishing group Hurun Research.

While the Chinese government's crackdown on luxury gifts has weighed on the country's spending on luxury goods, it also changed the spending habit of China's wealthy people who now prefer more practical items like iPhones and watches, said the publishing group, noted Market Watch.

Apple has also created its first television commercial specifically for China, produced by award-winning Asian filmmaker Ann Hui On-Wah, art director William Chang Suk Ping and cinematographer Christopher Doyle.

Apple has been rapidly expanding its retail presence in greater China. The company has 15 stores in mainland China and three in Hong Kong. It opened three stores in January - Zhengzhou in Central China, Hangzhou in Eastern China and Chongqing in the southwest - and plans to open another on Saturday in Tianjin in the north

Apple's store in cosmopolitan Shanghai is the busiest in the world, attracting more than 25,000 visitors every day.

In China, the iPhones also outsold all other smartphone in the fourth quarter.

Interestingly, Samsung also managed to grab a spot in the top ten luxury gift brand choice for the first time.