Smartphone shipments reached 24 million units in China
during the third quarter of 2011. Smartphone shipments reached 23 million units
in the United States. China has overtaken the United States for the first time
to become the world’s largest smartphone market by volume. (please see the
chart below)

Smartphone shipments grew 58 percent sequentially to
reach a record 23.9 million units in China during Q3 2011. In contrast,
smartphone shipments fell 7 percent sequentially to reach 23.3 million units in
the United States. China has overtaken the United States for the first time to
become the world’s largest smartphone market by volume,” said Linda Sui,
analyst at Strategy Analytics.

China’s rapid growth has been driven by an increasing
availability of smartphones in retail channels, aggressive subsidizing by
operators of high-end models like the Apple iPhone, and an emerging wave of
low-cost Android models from local Chinese brands such as ZTE. Nokia currently
leads China’s smartphone market with 28 percent share, while HTC heads the
United States smartphone market with 24 percent share.

The United States remains the world’s largest smartphone
market by revenue, but China has overtaken the United States in terms of
volume. China is now at the forefront of the worldwide mobile computing boom.
China has become a large and growing smartphone market that no hardware vendor,
component maker or content developer can afford to ignore.

China smartphone market share (%) by handset
vendor in Q3 2011

Nokia      28.5

Samsung 17.6

Others     53.9

United States smartphone market share (%) by
handset vendor in Q3 2011

HTC    24

Apple  20.6

Others 55.4

By Telecomlead.com Team
[email protected]