China joins smartphone revolution

The smartphone industry is preparing for new successes as it has been revealed that Chinese people are buying more smartphones than feature phones for the first time.

A customer holds up her newly bought Apple iPhone 4S
Smartphones have overtaken feature phones in China for the first time. Credit: Photo: AFP

According to the latest figures from industry research firm, IDC, smartphone shipments in China overtook feature phones for the first time during the period between April and June.

However, interestingly Apple’s market share almost halved during the same period.

The report showed that during quarter two of this year, there were 44 million smartphone shipments account for 51 per cent of China’s total mobile imports of 87 million.

TZ Wong, an IDC analyst, told Reuters there were two elements at play underpinning the recent figures and Apple’s market share decline.

"One is seasonal, people know the new phone is coming. And the second is that the alternatives are becoming much more attractive than a year ago. The iPhone didn't change much over the year."

Samsung retained its top spot with a 19 per cent share of the market – but it was down from 21 per cent in the previous quarter. Lenovo took the second spot with its popular LePhone with 11 per cent market share. China ZTE Corp came in third, while Apple slipped to fourth position.