China Becomes World's Biggest Smartphone Buyer
Source: SVEN GRUNDBERG
China overtook the U.S. as the world's largest smartphone market by volume in the third quarter, a research report by Strategy Analytics shows.
According to the report, shipments of smartphones in China grew 58% in the third quarter from the previous quarter to 24 million units. In the U.S., smartphone shipments fell 7% to 23 million units.
In a statement, Strategy Analytics analyst Tom Kang said the growing usage of smartphones in China was owing to aggressive subsidizing by operators of high-end models such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone, as well as the growing availability of low-cost models running Google Inc.'s Android platform.
Nokia Corp. had the largest share of China's smartphone market in the third quarter, with 29%. Strategy Analytics added that both Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Apple are chasing hard.
"If China Telecom launches a CDMA iPhone 4S early next year, then we expect Apple's share to spike further," the research firm said.
It also said that HTC Corp. and Sony Ericsson substantially increased their market share in the third quarter, as their Android models captured shelf space in the major cities of east and south China.
| }
|