At Shanghai's Consumer Electronics Show Asia event last month, it was reported that VR, automobiles, and drones outshone mobiles amid a reduced demand for handsets in the region. The number of smartphones in China will top 1.4bn by 2020, with 34m mobile phone users still to upgrade, research from Canalys has found. Citing Chinese consumers and developments in mobile payments, shopping and social networks as factors for smartphone adoption, future growth will be driven by smarter vehicles, virtual reality and IoT. A record 117m smartphones were shipped in Q4 2015, up 8% from the Q4 2014. In China, Apple is expected to sell more than 10m iPhones this year, a jump of nearly 50% compared to last year.
The number of smartphones in China will top 1.4bn by 2020, with 34m mobile phone users still to upgrade, research from Canalys has found. Citing Chinese consumers and developments in mobile payments, shopping and social networks as factors for smartphone adoption, future growth will be driven by smarter vehicles, virtual reality and IoT. A record 117m smartphones were shipped in Q4 2015, up 8% from the Q4 2014. In China, Apple is expected to sell more than 10m iPhones this year, a jump of nearly 50% compared to last year.