In lucrative Chinese market Apple is trailing far behind Android. Beijing based analytics firm, has said that Android has risen from 33.6% to a staggering 68.4% market share by the end of 2011. iOS in comparison lagged behind with just 5.7%, behind Symbian who still maintain an 18.7% share. It is also surprising to see that good ol’ Symbian is beating iOS by quite a bit, holding 18.7% of China’s market share. This could be due to the fact that other operating systems have a greater variety of affordable options.
The reason for Android’s popularity is likely the lower cost of Android handsets compared to iPhones. HTC, Motorola, Samsung and LG have a great presence in China, and let us not forget Sony Ericsson who has several Xperia models on China’s three biggest carriers China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom. We should also consider the importance of low-cost devices, from manufacturers such as Huawei, ZTE. In UK also Android Gains the Top Spot.