Smartphone penetration rate to exceed 90% by 2017

About 95 percent of mobile phones shipped into China will be smartphones by 2017, said a research report.

The country will become the world’s top smartphone market in terms of penetration, after developed regions such as the United States and Europe Union, according to industry consultancy Canalys.

China became the biggest smartphone market by shipment in 2011.

"The price of smart phones has fallen dramatically over the last few years and this has helped increase penetration," said Chris Jones, Canalys principal analyst.

"But the problem with low-cost smartphones has been that the user experience has been compromised to hit lower price points."

Globally, approximately 1.5 billion smartphones will be shipped in 2017, accounting for 73 percent of the mobile phone shipment, according to Canalys.