China smartphone market: When it comes to China smartphone shipments, there is no better time than now to begin paying attention. Things are beginning to pick up, and by 2014 you may be surprised at what the numbers have to say.
According to a recent study conducted by IDC, China’s smartphone shipments are expected to exceed 450 million by 2014.
The research company’s China Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, shows that the total number of shipments in the second quarter of 2013 reached 110 million. Smartphones, included in this total, accounted for 86 million.
Antonio Wang, Associate Director for Client System Research, Imaging, Printing, and Document Solution Research, IDC China added, “The smartphone market has maintained a two-digit quarter-on-quarter growth rate in Q2 due to two reasons. First, the substantial shipments of low-end smartphones at a unit price of less than RMB 800 that support China Mobile’s 3G network. Second, the shipments prepared by mobile phone vendors to meet the market demands of students during the summer vacation.”
Yan went on to add some interesting information regarding particular vendors, including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). He noted that sluggish sales of the iPhone 5 dipped into Cupertino’s market share, however, things are expected to turn around now that the company has released its new smartphone.
Thanks to an increase in popularity among low end smartphones, Lenovo and Coolpad have seen a nice pick up in activity.
Why are shipments expected to reach such a large number in 2014? There are a couple of reasons for this, including the issuance of 4G licenses. Along with this, IDC also made note of “the launch of Apple’s new iPhones by China Mobile” as a major contributor to this increase.
Here are the top five vendors, by market share, during the second quarter of 2013: Samsung, Lenovo, Coolpad, ZTE, and Huawei.
Things are growing fast in China, and we can expect big things from the market in 2014. It will be interesting to see how much of a push Apple is able to make, now that it has two new smartphones out there as well as help from China Mobile.
We will be sure to bring you updates on the China smartphone market during the third and fourth quarter, with one eye on Apple.
It goes without saying that these Apple hedge fund managers are hoping for big things out of the company in China as well as other markets:
David Einhorn, Christopher Hansen, Jeffrey Edwards, Stuart Peterson, and Mark Diker. Check back here for more updates on China’s smartphone market.
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Disclosure: none
