China, considered one of the worldwide markets ready for massive growth, might have more mobile users than imagined. According to research from Baidu, 270 million Chinese use Android daily. That’s up from around 50 million two years ago.
Though the growth seems to be slowing, right around one quarter of the country uses Android. The first three quarters of 2012 saw the greatest expansion in adoption, with a growth rate of 165% in those nine months. In the second quarter of 2012 alone, numbers shot up an impressive 55%, slightly outdone the next quarter with a 56% hike. The last few quarters of this year have seen the growth rate slow to around 11.5%, but that’s to be expected.
As for usage, the Chinese use their devices much like we do here in the States. They check their phone about 50 times a day on average, and use WiFi whenever they can for internet access (about 44% claim to do this). About 30% are sadly on a 2G connection, while 23% have 3G.
The Chinese Android user downloads about 10 apps per month in Q3 2013, up from about 8 apps/month this time last year. About 15% of users install a new app daily, with 21% of them using a PC to side load apps. With the increase in app downloads comes increased usage — 150 minutes a day, on average, compared to 26 minutes last year.
As for growth, Android has seen a 48% uptick in new users. 52% upgraded from older Android models, but almost half are new to the platform. About 45% of the new users are in rural areas, an important factor for Chinese smartphone growth. Last year, the rural growth was about 35%, which can also be attributed to China’s expanding network.
VIA: Unwired View
