It wasn’t long ago we were writing that China was on the verge of passing the United States as the largest market for mobile devices, namely smartphones. That time apparently is now. By the end of February, China will have 246 million active smart devices, just ahead of the U.S., which will have 230 million installed Android and iOS devices, one analytics firm announced Monday.
That ranking is unlikely to change, according to Flurry, which tracks mobile devices sessions around the world. Why? Simple math: China has 1.3 billion residents, while the U.S. population is around 310 million. The U.S. smart device base is still five times that of the United Kingdom, according new data points…
As of January, the U.S. held a slim lead over China with 222 million smart devices, versus 221, according to Flurry Analytics.
However, China added 150 million smart devices between January 2012 and January 2013, a rate of growth topping America, which added 55 million devices during the same time.
If it were not for the holiday surge, China’s lead in growth would have been even higher, according to the company.
Along with the U.S. and China, the January ranking of smart device markets included the UK with 43 million device, number four South Korea with 30 million and Japan at 29 million devices.
India could challenge China.
Despite having a population of more than 1.2 billion people, India has just 19 million active devices, suggesting much catching-up would be required.
In terms of which countries have the fastest smart device growth rate, China is in the middle of the pack. Instead, countries such as Columbia, Vietnam and Turkey are surging ahead with triple-digit growth-rates.
Between January 2012 and January 2013, the three countries experienced respectively 278 percent, 266 percent and 247 percent growth for iOS and Android devices, Flurry announced.
By comparison, China had 201 percent growth of smart devices during that period.
Did you see this coming?
China so rapidly rising to become the world’s top market for mobile devices?
It’s quite astounding, isn’t it?