THTResearchWhitePaper_ ChinaMobilePhoneMarket

china mobile phone market

Trouble in the World’s Fastest Growing Market In 2006, around 132 million mobile phones were sold in China, 14% of the

global total of 935 million. By 2010, with still only 50% of Chinese owning

a mobile phone, the country’s share of the market could rise to 17%, or 195 million mobile phones.

China’s mobile phone market is one of the most promising and fastest growing in the world, but Japanese handset makers have been largely shut-out of it. In 2005 and 2006 alone, four major Japanese mobile phone brands exited the China market.

Unique Market

Sharp, and Toshiba) mainly work through the major telecom operators -- NTT DOCOMO, KDDI and others. Similar to the US market, telecom operators in Japan purchase mobile phones directly from the vendors. Vendors work with the operators to meet their R&D and design demands in terms of functionality and software and deliver the products according to specifications, while the telecom/wireless operators sell the phones. 20% of all China mobile phone sales. For the most part, handset vendors sell their phones directly to consumers (although this is changing). The China market is extremely competitive, with vendors from the US

(Motorola), Europe (Nokia), S. Korea (LG, Samsung, Japan, and local China

brands (Bird, TCL, Lenovo, etc.) all competing for the same customers.

While China represents the biggest handset market in the world, it is also

the most competitive.

THT Research - China’s Mobile Phone Market

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