Yesterday global market intelligence firm IDC announced that by the end of 2012, China will be the market for more than one-quarter of the world’s smartphones. The report sees China surpassing the United States to become 26.2 percent of the global market by year’s end.
According to IDC analysts, this jump is due in large part to the bump in China’s cheap smartphone market, which has exploded over the past year. This trend will help push smartphone growth domestically, as will the rollout of 4G wireless networks in China, whenever that happens.
IDC analysts also said they expected smartphone growth to accelerate in second- and third-tier cities even as it begins to decelerate in cities like Beijing and Shanghai where smartphones already have a high penetration rate.
Of course, none of this should be particularly surprising to anyone who has been following the growth in China’s smartphone market at every level from apps to handsets.
The report also points out that India, with its huge population and low smartphone penetration rate, is potentially a huge market for growth, especially for companies that can produce low-cost handsets.
[IDC via Sina Tech, Image Source]
This is confirmation of the staggering growth in China. We are currently helping UK tech businesses in the mobile and smartphone sector (including mobile payment processing) develop business plans and this is a wake up call to ensure they all address this growing opportunity. Many thanks, Jon