80% Of China Will Be Able To Afford A Smartphone By 2017

Sites include research2guidance.com . Published on August 5th, 2012. Written by Anthony West.

In the US presently, over 55% of the population are smartphone owners. In China that is not the case, but new data is emerging that shows the Chinese may soon see large-scale ownership of smartphones—some say as early as 2017.

There are an estimated 1 billion mobile customers in China but a large swathe of people still can’t afford the hefty price tags that come with some of today’s smartphone. The good news for these people is that smartphone prices are dropping, especially at the lower end.

The study into China’s potential landscape for smartphone ownership was carried out by research company, research2guidance and it estimates that by 2017, 80% of China’s population will become middle-class. This status will bring with it household incomes averaging anywhere from $8,000 to $65,000 a year. This amount of earning power will leave plenty of room for items such as smartphones and research2guidance thinks that most Chinese will own one.

Already many smartphone manufacturers have tapped into booming economies in the East and release smartphones that are particularly tailored for that market. Whilst the last offerings from Samsung and HTC will set most people back a few hundred dollars, lower-end versions sell in India and China for a third or lower of the price.

There’s no doubt China is a force and will become more of a force in the next few years. When that happens we can expect a wider pool of potential customers. After all, they’ll all be on their smartphones.