China overtook the US as the world’s largest smartphone market by volume in the third quarter of 2011, according to a research carried out by Strategy Analytics.
According to the findings of the research firm, China’s smartphone shipments have overtaken the United States for the first time, driven mainly by surge of low-cost Android devices and "aggressive" operator subsidies. However, the US continues to remain the biggest market in terms of revenue.
Press release of Strategy Analytics stated that the smartphone shipments in China reached a "record" 23.9m units during the third quarter while U.S. shipments touched 23.3m units. In terms of growth in third quarter, China witnessed a 58% increase sequentially, but the U.S. saw a 7% drop over the same time period.
Nokia had the largest share of China’s smartphone market in the third quarter with 29%, followed by Apple and Samsung with 20.6% and 17.6% respectively.
Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston said that China was now at the forefront of the worldwide mobile computing boom. He added, "China has become a large and growing smartphone market that no hardware vendor, component maker or content developer can afford to ignore."
