eMarketer estimates that over half of China mobile phone users will use smartphones in 2015. Low cost of mobile device, rapid growth of mobile internet as well as revenue increase stimulate development of China smartphone market.
During the period from 2014 to 2018, smartphone users will increase by 177 million which means the smartphone users population will increase from 38.3% to 51.1% in China. With the availability of more 4G models in the fourth quarter of 2014, smartphone sales in the local China market were expected to top 105 million units in the quarter, increasing 16.2% sequentially, Digitimes Research estimates.
China, as the one of the biggest digital marketing countries, its netizens choose smartphones as their first choice to access the internet.
The young who live in cities with high education are the group who purchased smartphones early. In 2014, 77% people between 18 and 24 years old and 74.6% people between 25 and 34 years old would use smartphones in China. China’s young group still have much potential in smartphone market. China’s post-90s are more confidence and more willing to spend.
However, the penetration of smartphone among teenagers and the elderly is still low in China. eMarketer estimates that in 2018, three out of four teenagers (12-17 years old) and middle-aged (35-44) ones will use smartphones in China while the penetration among the group whose age are over 45 years old will be still low in 2018.
There are more males than females in China which lead to relatively more male smartphone users. It is estimated by eMarketer that there would be 269.6 million male smartphone users, representing 50.5% while female ones account for 47.7% in 2014. As of 2018, the penetration rate gap between different genders will nearly disappear.
Also read: China 4G Mobile Phone Sales Expected to Reach 100M in 2014
