Smartphone shipments in the China market declined 3.1% sequentially in the third quarter of 2014 as vendors found it hard to stimulate demand for their devices due to a lack of product differentiation, and the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were not made available till mid-October, according to Digitimes Research.
Local vendor Xiaomi Technology and Korea's Samsung Electronics were tied for the number one title in the vendor rankings in the third quarter with each having a shipment volume of over 13 million units to the local China market. It should be noted that the shipment totals are only for smartphones purchased in the local China market and do not include shipments from China vendors such as Xiaomi that are exported to overseas markets.
China Mobile saw the number of its new 4G subscribers increase 11.4 million in September alone, pushing the accumulated number of its 4G service subscribers to 40.9 million at the end of the third quarter. This will make it easy for the telecom operator to reach its goal of securing over 50 million 4G subscribers in 2014.
With the availability of more 4G models in the fourth quarter of 2014, smartphone sales in the local China market are expected to top 105 million units in the quarter, increasing 16.2% sequentially. However, the ratio of China's fourth-quarter smartphone sales to total global smartphone shipments is expected to edge down to 29.1% in the quarter, Digitimes Research estimates.
This article is an excerpt from a Digitimes Research Quarterly Data Report (China smartphone market and industry – 3Q 2014). Visit our latest Data reports.
This article is an excerpt from a Digitimes Research Special Report (China smartphone market and industry – 3Q 2014). Visit our latest Special reports.