This month is likely to see China become the largest market in the world for smart devices, including iOS and Android smartphones as well as tablet computers...
According to the analytics firm Flurry, at the end of January 2013, China was just 1 million behind the US’s installed base of 222 million devices.
Based on growth trends, China is expected to surpass the US this month, reaching 246 million devices. This would put it significantly ahead of the US’s projected 230 million devices. The US is also far nearer to saturation with a population of 310 million – China has 1.3 billion, meaning that there is plenty of room for further growth.
The only market now able to surpass China is India, which has a population of 1.2 billion. It will however be some time before smart devices become as widespread as they are in China, with just 19 million devices sold to date in the market.
China’s year-on-year addition of 150 million devices dwarfed the US’s 55 million, giving it a growth rate of 209%. However, this still left it trailing behind Colombia, Egypt, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam.
