Nokia and Motorola dominate China's smartphone sales

Nokia and Motorola are the two dominant smartphone sellers in the small but growing Chinese market.

Research firm CCID Consulting revealed this week that 7.48 million smartphones were shipped to China during the third quarter, 69% of which were made by Nokia.

Motorola came in second with a 20% market share, followed by HTC, Dopod, and Samsung.

This is a strong performance from Motorola, who has struggled recently to maintain its market share in global markets.

According to CCID, Nokia is expected to continue to dominate because of its wide ranging product portfolio and attractive pricing.

In terms of OS, Symbian topped the chart with a 71.3% market share, followed by Linux on 19.5% and Windows Mobile on 8.0%.

Shipments in the third quarter grew just 0.6% compared to the previous quarter, a figure blamed on the lagging global economy.

China, however, is seen as a potentially huge market for smartphones because of its large population and relatively recent take up of mobile communications.

China Mobile, the country’s leading network provider, already has 600 million subscribers – most of whom currently use low-cost handsets for calling and texting.

Demand is increasing for more sophisticated handsets that surf the internet, play music and video, and access the country’s growing 3G network.