Google’s Android OS now dominates China's smartphone market and is available on more than half of handhelds in the country, according to a report.
Kantar Worldpanel ComTech reported that Android is on 51.4 percent of all smartphones in China for the first three months of 2013, a 2.8 percent jump from the previous quarter. Samsung accounts for 15.2 percent of its use in the first quarter, also reporting a 1.5 percent rise, and it's now the fastest-growing smartphone brand in China, according to the Next Web.
The report basically is saying that the rise in Chinese adoption is because most Chinese are moving from feature phones (or dumb phones) to smartphones. They're choosing the Android OS likely because of its range of prices and Android usually has the cheapest ones available.
Symbian and Apple's iOS have 23 percent and 19.9 percent of China's market share respectively. However, Symbian's market dropped 2 percent in the first quarter and the iOS stayed the same. For us, this means that unless Apple can release those rumored cheaper iPhones to compete with Android, it will lose the profitable Chinese market.
