In the first three quarters of 2019, the total number of mobile phone users of the three telecommunications companies in China, including China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, reached 1.598 billion, an increase of 3.3% according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China.

Among them, the number of 4G users was 1.264 billion, accounting for 79.1% of all mobile phone users, 4.7 percentage points higher than the end of the previous year.

The total number of mobile communication base stations reached 8.08 million, of which the total number of 4G base stations was 5.19 million, accounting for 64.2%.

By the end of September, the total number of fixed Internet broadband access users of the three telecommunications companies reached 450 million, a net increase of 42.48 million compared with the end of the previous year.

The number of fixed broadband Internet access users with a receiving rate of 100 Mbps and above reached 362 million, accounting for 80.5% of the total number of users, 10.2 percentage points higher than the end of the previous year.

The fixed Internet broadband access users with an access rate of more than 1000M nationwide reached 580,000 households.

Related: China overtook the U.S. as the largest smart speaker market in 2019

As of the end of September, the total number of IPTV (Internet TV) users reached 292 million, a net increase of 37.04 million compared with the end of the previous year.

In the first three quarters, the length of outgoing calls for mobile phones was 180.5 billion minutes, down 6.4% year-on-year. The decline was 1 percentage point higher than the end of the previous year, but narrowed by 0.4 percentage points from the first half of the year.

The call duration of fixed-line calls was 91.7 billion minutes. It was down 19.3% year-on-year.

Mobile SMS traffic and revenue both continued to grow. Driven by the popularity of services such as service login and identity authentication, the business volume and revenue of SMS services have kept growing.

In the first three quarters, China’s mobile SMS business volume increased by 40.8% year-on-year, and the mobile SMS business revenue reached 29.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.6%.

Pricing and practical features top factors for China smart device users’ purchase

In June 2017, China’s mobile market has produced a total of 41.786 million mobile phones, showing a comparative 6.2% decrease; there are 97 newly released models, which has decreased 29.7%. In the first half of 2017, China’s mobile market has produced 239 million mobile phones and released 565 new phone models, showing a decrease of 5.9% and 26.0% respectively.

1. Overview of Mobile Phone Market

In June 2017, China’s mobile market has produced a total of 41.786 million mobile phones, showing a comparative 6.2% decrease; there are 97 newly released models, which has decreased 29.7%. Between January and June, China’s mobile market has produced 239 million mobile phones and released 565 new phone models, showing a decrease of 5.9% and 26.0% respectively.

2. Development of 4G Mobile Phones

In June 2017, 39.615 million sets of 4G phones were produced and 78 new models were released into the market, showing a decrease of 5.0% and 36.1% respectively, and made up 94.8% and 80.4% respectively. Between January and June, 226 million 4G phones were manufactured and 462 new models were released, showing 3.0% and 28.8% decrease respectively, and made up 94.8% and 81.8%.

89.0% of the 4G phones manufactured in June were all network phones. The type of networks supported by the 4G phones are as follows: FDD-97.2%, TD-SCDMA 99.1%, WCDMA 97.0% and cdma2000 89.2%.

3. Foreign Brand Mobile Phones in China

In June 2017, 38.078 million foreign brand mobile phones were produced in China, showing a comparative 7.4% decrease, making up 91.1% of China’s manufactured mobile phones for the same period. There were 91 newly released models, which reflects a 30.0% decrease, and makes up 93.8% of the newly released models in China’s mobile phone market.

For the first half of the year, 216 million foreign brand phones were produced in China, with a comparative 4.3% decrease, and made up 90.5% of the phones produced in China in the same period. There were 533 newly released models, with a comparative decrease of 26.7%, making up 94.3% of new model in China in the same period.

4. Development of Smart Mobile Phones

In June 2017, 39.483 million sets of smartphones were produced, with a comparative 5.8% decrease, making it 94.5% of China’s produced mobile phones. Of which, 33.359 million sets were Android phones. Between January and June, 226 million smartphones were produced, with a comparative 3.9% decrease, making it 94.6% of phones produced in China. Of which, 187 million sets were Android phones.

In June 2017, there were 78 new smartphone models released into the market, showing a 36.6% decrease, making up 80.4% of newly launched models in the same period, of which 56 models support Android operating system.

Between January and June 2017, there were 450 new smartphone models released, with a 31.2% decrease, making up 79.6% of the newly launched models in the same period. Of the 450 models, 332 models support the Android operating system.

Mobile apps usage overview in Q1 2017

China Mobile’s operating revenue reached 708.4 billion yuan in 2016, representing an increase of 6.0% from the previous year according to its official financial results.

The growth rate of revenue from China Mobile’s telecommunications services stood at 6.7%, achieving a five-year high. The revenue structure improved further with wireless data traffic revenue increasing by 43.5% from the previous year, accounting for 46.2% of revenue from telecommunications services. Wireless data traffic became the biggest revenue source in 2016 for the first time, surpassing the combined revenue of voice, SMS, and MMS.

Profit attributable to equity shareholders reached 108.7 billion yuan in 2016, or basic earnings per share of 5.31 yuan.

China Mobile maintained its market leading position in terms of the overall development of 4G business,
particularly in the areas of coverage and network quality. In 2016, it had a net addition of 223 million 4G customers, bringing the total number of 4G customers to 535 million. The 4G penetration rate of its mobile customers reached 63.0%.

In 2016, China Mobile had a net addition of 22.59 million wireline broadband customers, driving the total number of customers for this service up to 77.62 million, 76.9% of which subscribed to services with a bandwidth of 20M or above.

The number of customers of its home digital product “Mobaihe”, the set-top box that provides high-definition video-on-demand service, has exceeded 22.80 million. Customer value for its broadband service has also increased steadily.

In 2016, China Mobile served 5.45 million corporate customers and generated an increased proportion of product related revenue. Its corporate telecommunications and informatization services revenue continued to grow and accounted for approximately one-third of the total market.

Next: China smartphone market insights for Q1 2017

By the end of Q2 2015, the penetration rate of smartphones has reached 65.5% in China urban regions, an increase of 4.3% compared with the previous quarter and an increase of 18.9% year over year. The penetration rate of China Mobile smartphone users was the highest which reached 66.3% according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

Although the ratio of China Mobile users was 1.1 percentage points lower year on year, it still accounted for 60.2% market share, more than the total number of users of the other two telcom networks combined.

Users who chose not to use China Mobile any more were mainly the female, post-00s and post-90s, 3G network users, post-paid subscribers in third-tier and fourth-tier cities. More than half of the lost users joined the network of China Unicom, mainly due to the recommendation of their friends and relatives. New users who chose to use China Mobile were mainly because of the mobile 4G network, while many users complained about the cost-effectiveness and the imparity clauses.

In contrast, the number of China Telecom mobile phone users continued to grow, which reached 15.3%. Home broadband, landline telephone and other services helped China Telecom in the growth. In addition, there were a considerable number of users who chose China Telecom mobile phones for its favorable price.

In order to avoid the loss of more users, China Mobile should encourage users to upgrade to the 4G network.

Also read: China’s Top 30 Mobile Internet Companies in 2015

About 2/3 Apple users upgraded to iOS8 in Q1 2015 according to Tencent’s data covering 1.7 billion devices.

This is largely due to pre-installed iOS8 on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and new iPad which were hot-selling smartphones in China. In addition, new features such as Apple Pay and personal health monitoring motivated users to upgrade to iOS8.

Also read: Xiaomi Beat Samsung As Top Smartphone Vendor in 2014

As of the end of March this year, the total number of China’s mobile phone users reached 1.29 billion, an increase of 3.6%, including 160 million 4G user in the first quarter of 2015.

China 4G mobile users increased by 60 million in Q1 2015, maintaining high growth.

In recent years, the domestic telecom tariff has been showing a downward trend, but still far from satisfactory level for consumers. 4G penetration with international comparisons need to be further improved, with the upgrading of the popularity of LTE and industrial maturity, costs also a great space to be reduced.

In the first quarter data show that the total number of mobile broadband subscribers reached 640 million in China, fixed broadband subscribers reached 204 million, 78.39 million of which are optical access users, accounting for 38.5% of total broadband users.

Also read: Market Share of iOS Continued Growth in China in 2015

The growth of 4G users in China outpaced 3G users in 2014 with 97.284 million new subscribers comparing to 83.644 million 3G new subscribers according to Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China.

China’s mobile internet data usage was 2.062G in 2014, an increase of 62.9%. A 4G subscriber on average used 205M data per month, an increase of 47.1%.

China mobile users sent much less number of SMS in 2014, 763.05 billion, down 14.4%. MMS growth was down 24.4% in 2014 while it grew by 23% in the previous year.

China phone users increased by 39.426 million to 1.536 billion, an increase of 2.6%. Mobile phone subscribers increased by 56.98 million to 1.286 billion with a penetration rate of 94.5%. The landline subscribers reached 249 million, down by 17.555 subscribers.

Also read: Half of China Internet Users to Use Tablet in 2015

eMarketer estimates that over half of China mobile phone users will use smartphones in 2015. Low cost of mobile device, rapid growth of mobile internet as well as revenue increase stimulate development of China smartphone market.

During the period from 2014 to 2018, smartphone users will increase by 177 million which means the smartphone users population will increase from 38.3% to 51.1% in China. With the availability of more 4G models in the fourth quarter of 2014, smartphone sales in the local China market were expected to top 105 million units in the quarter, increasing 16.2% sequentially, Digitimes Research estimates.

Also read: China 4G Mobile Phone Sales Expected to Reach 100M in 2014

GfK China estimates that China 4G mobile phones retail sales volume is expected to exceed 100 million in 2014.

In first half of 2014, retail sales volume of LTE smartphones was 13 million; and in Q2, the volume was 10 million in China smartphone market according to data from GfK. In 3G times, smartphone industry chain has been completed and with rise of 4G, telecom operators and many mobile chip manufacturers increase investment in 4G market. The speed of 4G replacing 3G will be much faster than 3G replacing 2G.

In June 2014, China’s domestic mobile phone brands accounted for 72% in mobile phone market.

Domestic brands priced less than RMB2,000 ($326.45) strengthened cooperation with telecom operators and online e-commerce platforms to promote custom-made phones, reaching over 80% market share. Domestic brands priced over RMB2,000 continuously make efforts on innovation, branding and cooperation with different channels. Huawei, Oppo and Vivo have already made success in middle and high-end smartphone market.

GfK China believed that 2014 is an important year for shifting from 3G era to 4G era in China. China’s domestic smartphone brands have moved overseas. In H1 2014, online sales volume of mobile phones via e-commerce platforms exceeded 38 million with an increase of 91% YoY, accounting for 17% of total mobile phone retail volume in China. Online smartphone sales develop rapidly which has impact on offline mobile phone shops.

Also read: Samsung and Xiaomi Ahead of Apple, Leading China Smartphone Market

China Mobile continued to experience a decline in its voice and SMS and MMS businesses, with a 0.3% decrease in the total voice usage and a 20.2% decrease in the SMS usage compared to the same period of last year. However, China Mobile substantially leveraged its first-mover advantages in 4G services and accelerated the migration of customers to 4G network.

As of 30 September 2014, China Mobile customers reached 799 million, among which 40.95 million were 4G customers.

Mobile data traffic for the first three quarters of 2014 increased by 98.6% compared to the same period of last year, which constituted the major driver of revenue growth. Yet it experienced a further slowdown in revenue growth and the operating revenue reached RMB481.2 billion, representing an increase of 3.9% compared to the same period of last year.

China will overtake USA as the number one LTE market in terms of LTE smartphone sales in the second half of 2014, according to Counterpoint Research.

China Mobile Financial Data

China Mobile Operating Data

Continue reading: China Mobile App Distribution Channels Market Share

Source: China Mobile

China will overtake USA as the number one LTE market in terms of LTE smartphone sales in the second half of 2014, according to Counterpoint Research.

China had high smartphone shipments in Q2 2014 with more than 100 million units and it now accounts to more than a third of the global smartphone volumes up from a fourth.

China has very high demand for smartphones, which accounted for 94% of total phones shipped while it’s 88% in the US in Q2 2014. China has raced to become the second largest market globally in terms of LTE smartphone volumes, almost a fourth of global LTE volumes and almost non-existent LTE volumes in the same quarter a year ago.

Coolpad became the top supplier of LTE smartphones in China during Q2 2014 surpassing Samsung & Apple according to Counterpoint Research report.

There are now more than 250 LTE models being sold in China with average selling prices already hitting close to 1000 yuan.

China Mobile took advantage of 4G trend and gained 5.834 million new 4G subscribers and to a total number of 13.943 million subscribers. China Mobile now has 99.8% of all the 4G subscribers in China.

In July 2014, total number of subscribers has exceeded 296 million in China Unicom’s mobile services business, with a monthly increase of 888 thousand new subscribers according to the released data from China Unicom for July.

In terms of fixed-line broadband, the number of subscribers reached 67.798 million with 378 thousand new subscribers while the number of local telephone subscribers was 85.44 million with a decrease of 631 thousand according to data from China Unicom.

By June 2014, the number of 4G subscribers in China had exceeded 13.97 million according to Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). China Mobile took advantage of 4G trend and gained 5.834 million new 4G subscribers and to a total number of 13.943 million subscribers. China Mobile now has 99.8% of all the 4G subscribers in China.

China Mobile has 241 million 3G subscribers and 20.437 million 4G subscribers according to China Mobile’s official data.

At the end of last year, MIIT issued 4G license based on TD-LTE technology to the three telcos in China though China Unicom and China Telecom preferred FDD-LTE. In June, MIIT granted China Unicom and China Telecom with licenses with network compatible for TD-LTE and FDD-LTE.

Read more: China to be the biggest 4G market in 2019

In the first half of 2014, sales of smartphone in China have exceeded 185.563 million units according to data of iiMedia Research.

During this period, many Chinese smartphone brands disappeared from the market. The productivity of Chinese smartphone brands are increasing with a rapid growth, which has a great impact on global market; Samsung is no longer the leading brand in Chinese smartphone market, outrun by domestic brand.

The number of Smartphone users in China has exceeded 556 million by June 2014 in China, an increase of 4.5% from the prior quarter

Phones with Android system dominated Chinese smartphone market, representing 89.9% of the total number of phones sold in China. Benefiting from the cooperation with China Mobile, Apple had obvious increase of iPhone sales.

3G Smartphone accounted for 72% of all the phones sold and the market has higher demand on 4G smartphones as 4G network is heavily promoted by the telcos.

16.9% of smartphones were sold online in first half year of 2014, and it is estimated that online sales could exceed 19% of total in second half.

Large-size screen, 4-core processors, good sound quality all can be the factors of Chinese consumers choosing a smartphone.

Read more: China Mobile 4G Plan Order Over 50M.

China Mobile sufferred from total market failure in TD network era, now it’s time for China Mobile to win 4G era.

China telecom enterprises’ main task was increasing 4G network coverage spots, besides, 4G supported mobile phones was also very crucial. China Mobile took cooperation with manufacturers seriously. Tang Jian, general manager of China Mobile, revealed to Tencent technology news that there were 10 4G smartphone devices selling. By the end of 2013, there would be more than 30 4G smartphone devices in the market from many manufacturers, including Samsung, Sony, HTC, etc.

Mobile Manufacturers All Enthusiastic About 4G

Compared with China Unicom and China Telecom, China Mobile had the strongest desire in 4G market. The main reason was that China Mobile hoped to change the disadvantage position in 3G market. Except for internet connecting speed, China Mobile 3G TD network supported mobile phones were not attractive in design, as well as limited mobile devices. Now the situation in 4G market was completely different, not only these main mobile manufacturers all attended China Mobile’s 4G meeting, but also all expressed their support in making 4G smartphone devices. China Mobile used to ask manufacturers to make 3G TD supportive devices for them.

HTC higher management class pointed it out to Tencent Technology news that all their product lines were included in 4G smartphone devices. Sony will also integrate music, video and game into 4G devices to meet the needs of 4G consumers.

Why were mobile manufacturers all enthusiastic about 4G? Word said that China Mobile planed to procure 50 million 4G devices in 2014, during which mobile devices accounted for 40 million. The large procurement would let any mobile manufacturer heartbeat increase, moreover, though 4G network coverage still needs improvement, it fast internet connection will win the hearts of consumers and mobile manufacturers would not waste opportunities like this.

China Mobile also learned from its mistake in 3G market, it began contacting with foreign mobile manufacturers before 4G license issuance. For example, in August 2013, China Mobile collaborated with Samsung to launch the first TD-LTE mobile phone Galaxy Note 2. It is said that on December 18, Samsung will launch many TD-LTE mobile phones, including Galaxy S4, Note 3 and CS03.

At present, consumers could purchase many 4G China Mobile smartphones in China, including Samsung 7108D (Note 2 4G supportive), Sony M35t, ZTE U9815, Huawei D2-6070, Coolpad 8736, Hisense X6T, K-Touch 1. By the first half of 2014, there will be over 50 4G China Mobile smartphone devices.

Changing to 4G network requires consumers to change to USIM card. China Mobile announced that they would offer free USIM card change service to consumers. If one has a 4G supportive smartphone device, he or she will only need to change to USIM card in China Mobile stores without changing phone number. And consumers could also get a 4G smartphone by joining advance payment plan.

Cheap 4G Smartphone Devices

China Mobile is going to launch 1,000 yuan (USD 164) 4G smartphones together with many manufacturers, which will be the new hit in 2014. Tang Jian believed that China Mobile 4G devices would have a good sales performance in 2014. It estimated that 4G devices below 1,000 yuan (USD 164) would become the dominance in the second half of 2014.

By July 2013, China 3G users reached 340 million, during which China Mobile had 147 million 3G users. China Mobile led for the cheap 4G smartphone devices, which means the popularity of 4G will come very soon.

On December 4 2013, China issued 4G licenses to China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom at the same time. The three telecom enterprises were given 4G TD-LTE operating permission.

Ericsson’s recent mobile market report forecast that China would be the biggest 4G LTE market in 2019, with over 700 million 4G LTE users. Meanwhile, Ericsson announced their support in China Mobile to build the world largest 4g LTE network.

4G LTE is the fastest developing mobile telecom technology in the history. Because of its high internet access speed and stability, flexibility, LTE becomes the indispensable network infrastructure.