China's Analysys International says total sales volume of mobile phones reached 22.38 million units in China in the first quarter of 2006, increasing 7.32% over the previous quarter. According to the research report, China's GSM handset market continued rising in the first quarter, with sales volume reaching 20.92 million units; CDMA handset market began to rebound in the first quarter after declining for continuous four quarters in 2005, with sales volume reaching 1.35 million units.
Analysys International says the market rebound of CDMA handsets in China in the first quarter was mainly due to price fall of CDMA handsets at the beginning of the year and China Unicom's market promotions.
In terms of competition pattern, Chinese domestic vendors and overseas vendors maintained relatively stable market share. Market concentration of GSM handsets increased in China. Nokia, Motorola and Samsung further increased their market share and broadened the gap with the other vendors on Chinese marketplace in the first quarter. Motorola's market share increased rapidly due to the hot sale of its fashionable products and its customization cooperation with mobile operators. The comprehensive market performance of Chinese domestic vendors was not improving, however, Lenovo's mobile phone sales increased rapidly.
According to the report, China's CDMA handset market was still dominated by overseas brands. Samsung maintained stable at the top, while LG's market share declined slightly. Motorola's rapid growth of GSM handset sales promoted its position in CDMA market. Chinese vendors ZTE, Hisense and Huawei ranked the second, the sixth and the ninth respectively concerning CDMA market share. Analysys International says ZTE's rapid growth of sales volume didn't drive the growth of profit, because its products concentrated on low-end handsets."
Posted to the site on 18th May 2006
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