China saw significant smartphone shipment growth of 199 percent year-on-year in the second quarter and 32 percent over the previous quarter. In total, more than 42 million smart phones were shipped into the channel in China in Q2, representing the second consecutive quarter of record breaking volumes in a single country market, according to Canalys research. China accounted for 27 percent of the 158 million global smartphone shipments, compared to 16 percent for the United States. The growth in China was heavily driven by domestic vendors, while international vendors struggled to keep pace.
While Samsung maintained its overall leadership position in China with a 17 percent market share, this reduced sequentially as volumes were flat and as several local vendors closed the gap. ZTE, Lenovo, and Huawei were the second-, third- and fourth-placed vendors, making up a third of the market. They achieved growth of 171, 2,665, and 252 percent year-on-year respectively. Collectively, domestic Chinese vendors shipped 25.6 million units, representing a growth of 518 percent compared with international vendors which grew by a more modest 67 percent to 16.7 million units. Apple fell to fifth place in China. While its shipments doubled year-on-year, they were down 37 percent compared to Q1 2012.
