China’s Smartphone market is now three times larger than the US
The latest survey of ‘Counterpoint Technology Market Research’ covering the smartphone market in China has revealed some interesting details and trends. Last year, China surpassed the US, becoming the largest smartphone market in the world. In August 2013, just a year later, the Chinese market has grown, becoming almost three times bigger than the US. Overall, more than 30 million units have been sold in China. Moreover, China shows an even higher level of smartphone penetration – 9 of 10 devices sold in China are smartphones. For comparison, in the US the numbers are 87%.
The market growth is being driven by the local companies Lenovo, ZTE, Hiaomi, Huawei and Coolpad. They released a great number of new and affordable handsets and that’s how these companies have helped the overall market growth. Because all major local Chinese manufacturers have embraced Android, the Google’s mobile platform has grown to the enormous 96% market share.
Divided by OEMs, a group of low-cost companies including Xiaomi leads the market with 45% of the sales. These companies bet on devices priced below $200, being helped by subsidies from the local Chinese carriers. Lowering the price point to the same level as the feature phones has made the smartphone market growth possible. There is a tendency, the feature phones to disappear slowly from the OEM’s portfolio.
Samsung has a 15% market share in August, followed by Lenovo and Coolpad with 11%. ZTE’s sales account for 7%, Huewei – 6%. The only significant Windows Phone player, Nokia has a 3% share, while for Apple remains the miserable 1%. The Apple’s retreat is probably temporary and we will see some improvement after the iPhone 5s and 5c launch in September.
Source: Counterpoint Monthly Market Pulse August 2013 via Forbes
