It took a few years, but it’s finally happened. More smartphones were sold in China during Q3 2011 than in the United States. The exact number? 23.9 million versus 23.3 million. Not a whole lot, but consider this: the population of the United States is 307 million, meanwhile there are 1.3 billion people in China. That’s almost 425% more people. We’re frankly a bit shocked that it took so long for this to happen, while simultaneously pleased to see that Chinese citizens are finally starting to enter the middle class and have enough discretionary income to buy smartphones. Unlike the United States though, where operators practically give away smartphones because they get your soul in return for 24 months, the Chinese have to pay full retail price for their devices, often resorting to the gray market so they can buy imported handsets. Because of that the United States remains the biggest smartphone market by revenue, whereas China has to settle with the title of king in terms of volume.
Speaking about volume, a strange thing happened last quarter. Smartphone sales actually fell in the United States. Compared to Q2 2011, unit shipments in Q3 fell by a little over 7%. While it would be easy to say that’s due to Apple releasing the iPhone 4S in Q4 instead of Q3 like they usually do, we think there just has to be more to it than that, though we can’t quite figure it out. Now that the iPhone 3GS is free with a 24 month contract, we’re pretty positive that Q4 volumes are going to explode again, and the US may even eclipse China. Then in February there’s Chinese New Year, which drives sales as much or even more than Christmas in Freedom Land, so … yea, the battle between the superpowers for a highly connected citizenry has just begun.
[Via: Boy Genius Report]