China has pipped the US at the post with 23.9 million smartphones shipped in, in the third quarter (compared to 23.3 million for the States) – making China the world’s largest smartphone market.
Strategy Analytics, the research firm behind the figures, described the next two quarters as ‘a seesaw game,’ between the two world powers, but maintained that China would still come out on top,
"…going into next year, China will outstrip the U.S. market continuously. China is going to be larger every quarter," said Thomas Kang, Strategy Analytics director.
Canalys had different figures bringing the US out on top for the third quarter – different definitions of smartphones or vendors possibly?
In revenue terms the US is still top, mainly due to high-end devices – like Apple’s iPhone – driving the sales. Strategy gives China four years to catch up in this area.
With regards to measuring the smartphone market by volume the US leads – according to two other research firms, though China is very close behind.
The growth in China has been credited to smartphones becoming more widely available, and subsidies on devices such as the iPhone – with low-cost Android smartphones also being introduced into the Chinese market the US may not be able to hold on to the number one spot at all.
In 2010 Nokia held a 70 per cent share of the smartphone market – now Nokia is down to a 28 per cent market share, but is still the top smartphone vendor in the China. The Android smartphone introduction has a lot to answer for, according to Kang, as does the promotion of rival smartphone makers from China’s mobile operators.
Apple’s iPhone appears to be taking over the world – sales are soaring in China, or rather, “its share has been doubling every year,” said Kang.
There is no stopping China, or the iPhone.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment