78.96 million mobile handsets sold in China in 2005

Analysis: Total sales volume of mobile phones reached 78.96 million units in China in 2005, representing an increase of 7.72% over the year 2004. GSM handset sales maintained strong growth trend with sales volume reaching 72.13 million in 2005, increasing 14% year over year; CDMA handset sales volume reached 6.84 million units, decreasing 30.46% year over year. Market share of CDMA handsets kept declining in 2005 from 13.47% in the first quarter to 6.46% in the fourth quarter.

In 2005, Nokia, Motorola and Samsung further increased their market share and broadened the gap with the other vendors on Chinese marketplace. Nokia occupied a leading market share of 26.91%. Leading domestic vendor Bird ranked the fourth with 6.78% market share. Sony Ericsson ranked the fifth. No other vendor occupied a market share higher than 5%.

Total Market share of domestic brands had been dropping from 39% in the first quarter to 29.77% in the fourth quarter. Many firms were in great loss. Tight capital of domestic vendor had brought vicious circle on R&D, new product investment, sales and after-sale service support, advertising and marketing research expenses. China's CDMA handset market was still dominated by overseas brands in 2005. Samsung and LG maintained stable at the top. Nokia's share in CDMA market was increasing. Chinese vendors ZTE and Hisense were in the fourth and sixth respectively concerning CDMA market share. China in 2005"> China Mobile Terminal and Channel Research Report 2005-2006 Publ 20060413