“China is the number one market in terms of mobile phone volume sales. The market also exhibited very positive growth in 2013. The strong annual increment was fuelled by enthusiastic consumers with a strong demand for mobile phones, and smartphones in particular.
Samsung leads the China market. Apple is also performing well thanks to its premium positioning, while domestic companies are posing an increasing threat to foreign leading mobile brands. Xiaomi is a young mobile telecommunications product manufacturer and software developer. As a latecomer it grabbed the market’s attention with its innovative online selling channel, its open mind-set regarding product optimisation, and value image. The success of the brand reflects some of the key success factors in China’s mobile phone market, such as a reliable brand and good value for money.
That said, commoditisation in handsets makes competition and profitability increasingly difficult. Nowadays, the greater potential for revenue generation lies in the OS, the app ecosphere, and with the network operator.
Growing with the boom in smartphone usage, mobile apps have also seen lucrative potential. However, the app market is also complex, and involves many players, such as mobile phone manufacturers, OS providers, telecom operators, and internet companies.
It is important to understand this unique market and consumers’ evolving needs in order to be successful in China’s app market, and it will be equally important to be a part of the revolution in mobile payment systems that is just emerging.”
Definition
This report covers both mobile phones and mobile apps.
Mobile phones
The mobile phone market covers 2G, 3G and 4G & other mobile phone handsets. The report includes both non-smartphones - which covers basic mobile phones and feature phones - and smartphones.
A basic mobile phone is mainly capable of calling and sending text messages.
A feature phone is defined as a device capable of connecting to the 2G networks (but not usually 3G), and which may come with a colour screen, a music player or a camera, but which typically lacks the advanced web browsing ability of a smartphone as well as the ability to download more applications.
A smartphone is defined as any modern mobile phone capable of connecting to the internet, and capable of downloading applications from proprietary application stores. The main operating systems (OS) examined in this context are as follows:
iOS, created by Apple and installed on all Apple iPhones.
Android, created by Google and installed on a number of handsets from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). There are many OS user interfaces (UI) based on Android, such as Xiaomi’s MIUI.
Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8, created by Microsoft and installed on a number of handsets from OEMs.
The BlackBerry OS, created by Research In Motion and installed exclusively on BlackBerry devices.
Besides, Symbian also offers version S60 for smartphones.
Mobile apps
For the purpose of this report, mobile apps are defined as software downloaded to mobile phones and tablets, subsequent to the purchase of the hardware. Software that comes built in with the purchase of hardware is not the subject of this report, regardless of whether it is considered as an app or not.
Report structure
This report provides an overall analysis of the mobile phone and app market in China, covering topics like market size and forecast, major brands and their activities, consumers’ behaviour and their attitudes towards mobile phones and apps. Also it carries out some extensive analysis on several key issues including:
How to stand out from the crowd amid the smartphone competition in China?
Where do the future opportunities of mobile apps lie? Are there any potential threats?
How will mobile payment’s growth and future fare in the current fast growing online shopping environment?
Methodology
For the purpose of this report, Mintel commissioned a quantitative research survey carried out online to explore consumer attitudes towards mobile phones and apps.
Fieldwork was conducted in December 2013, in four tier one cities and six tier two and three cities of 3,000 adults aged 20-49. The tier one cities are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu. The tier two and three cities are Shenyang, Nanchang, Jinan, Wenzhou, Kunming, and Nantong.
Unless otherwise stated, photographs in this report were taken by Mintel analysts.
