Global communications giant Apple has taken a large step toward achieving its target of 40 new retail stores in China.

In January, alone, the company opened brick-and-mortar stores in Xiamen, the first in Fujian province, as well as the major metropolitan centers of Guangzhou, Qingdao, Shenyang, and Nanjing.

One of the long-term growth drivers for Apple is the growing percentage of China’s upper middle class, which currently comprises about 20 percent of the country’s population and is expected to grow to 56 percent by 2022.

China is the California-based Apple’s second largest market in the world after the U.S. with its flagship product, the iPhone, comprising the majority of non-Android phones sold in the country.

More than 100 million smart phones with 4G LTE technology shipped to China in the third quarter of last year, the company has said.

According to industry researchers, BlackBerry, Windows, and Tizen constitute a combined 2.5 percent of China’s smart phone sales with Apple producing for 90 percent of the country’s non-Android smart phones.

As a result, growth in China’s non-Android smart phone sales can largely be attributed to Apple’s sales expansion, they say.