Actually, during recent visit just a few weeks ago, I was surprised to find Apple Store in Sendai and it was busy (in Tokyo, I wouldn't be that surprised me).

The main difference with phones I noticed between the visit this time and last year was the popularity of touch phones versus flip phones. A year ago most phones in subways, I noticed, were flip phones. This year not so much. Definitely lot of iPhones and Sony xperia.