Baby steps: LTE smartphone sales in China will grow over 500% in 2014

Last month, we shared analyst reports that projected 2014 will be a very good year for overall smartphone growth in China. Indeed, more smartphones will be sold in China this year than the population of the United States.

Out of a possible 400+ million sales figure for the world’s largest cell phone market, it is projected that LTE capable smartphones in China will exceed 135 million units. That equates to a year-over-year growth rate of roughly 547%.

All the usual suspects will be sharing the glory (and profits) of that growth, China Mobile, Samsung, Lenovo, Huawei, Qualcomm and MediaTek to name a few. Based on this growth, China will be the largest LTE market in no time and if we had to venture a guess, that will probably become a reality in 2015.

It looks like Apple timed its introduction with China Mobile just in time.  How Chinese manufacturers manage growth of this magnitude will be interesting.  It would be nice to see some branch out and introduce products in other markets.

Source: Strategy Analytics