China is already the world’s largest smartphone market and by the 2017, 80% of the population could own a smartphone. The forecast comes from research2guidance, which points to two factors that could lead to such an increase in smartphone adoption: the country’s buoyant middle-class and the availability of low-end, one-thousand Yuan (about $150) smartphones.
Continuous increases in household purchasing power and a surge in 1,000 Yuan handsets by major local players like Huawei and ZTE, as well as foreign players such as Samsung and Nokia, will result in China’s one billion mobile phone users being able to afford smartphones.
China’s strong economic expansion, but slow population growth saw GDP per capita grow on average 9.2% between 1990 and 2010, causing significant increases in disposable income. And although Chinese middle class lags behind USA households in terms of absolute disposable income, their eagerness to consume has made the country the world’s third largest consumer market behind Japan and USA.
Finally, in case you wonder, middle-class is defined as households earning an annual income between $8,500 to $60,000 and that usually spend a third of income on discretionary spending.