Apple Inc’s share of China’s smartphone market almost halved to 10 percent in the second quarter as buyers waited for the next iPhone model – expected later this year – or switched brands, data from industry research firm IDC showed on Friday.<\/p>\n
Smartphone shipments in China overtook feature phones for the first time in April-June, with domestic vendor Lenovo Group Ltd knocking Apple from second place in the world’s largest mobile market, the data showed.<\/p>\n
China’s smartphone shipments totalled 44 million in April-June, accounting for 51 percent of the country’s total mobile shipments of 87 million, IDC said.<\/p>\n
Lenovo, the world’s No.2 vendor of personal computers which makes the LePhone, took 11 percent market share in China in the second quarter, up from a single-digit percentage in the first quarter when it was ranked 7th, the data showed.<\/p>\n
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd retained its lead in the Chinese smartphone market with a share of around 16 percent, little changed from the first quarter. Apple ranked 4th.<\/p>\n
Global handset vendors, such as Samsung and Nokia Oyj, have been chasing increased market share in China, where there are more than 1 billion mobile subscribers. China is set to overtake the United States as the world’s largest smartphone market this year.<\/p>\n
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