According to the study, the Asian nation will reach 1B 4G connections by 2020
SHANGHAI – China is expected to have 913 million smartphones by the end of the year, up compared to 805 million at the end of the first quarter of 2015, according to GSMA Intelligence. By the end of Q1 2015 there were 632 million unique mobile subscribers in China, which represents 48% of the population.
According to the study, the growth in smartphone connections has slowed in recent quarters as the market matures, suggesting that the majority of current smartphone sales are now being driven by replacements rather than new connections.
GSMA Intelligence forecasts that 4G connections in China will reach 1 billion by 2020, representing about two-thirds of the market, up from 100 million at the end of 2014.
The study also revealed that the average price of a smartphone in China is $175. The average price of a smartphone from a domestic Chinese vendor is $150, almost half the price of a smartphone from an international brand at $285.
Chinese vendors are also producing a greater proportion of 4G smartphones than their international rivals. In Q1 2015, 70% of new handset models released by Chinese companies supported 4G technology, compared to the global average of 40%, GSMA said. Some of China’s top handset manufacturers include Xiaomi, Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo and Oppo.
In related news, another study from GSMA revealed that China currently leads the worldwide machine-to-machine market. According to the report, China is the world’s largest M2M market with 74 million connections and has now become the global leader in the deployment of the “Internet of Things.”
“Clearly, China’s size offers economies of scale unavailable to other countries, but it’s been the government’s focused strategy, emphasis on common specifications and cross-sector collaboration that has allowed the Internet of Things to scale,” GSMA CTO Alex Sinclair said. “Connectivity is boosting major industries such as logistics, manufacturing and energy in terms of increased efficiency, but it has also created a new consumer market in areas such as connected vehicles, home appliances and wearables, putting China at the forefront of IoT deployment.”
