Smartphone market to keep grow

China will account for more than a third of the global increase in smartphone shipment volumes this year comparing to 2011, and local brands are likely to dominate the low-end market, according to IT analysis company Canalys.

Low-end devices will drive the growth and models priced lower than $200 could represent more than 40 percent of China's market by 2015, said Canalys' findings .

The company said earlier this year that the country accounted for more than 22 percent of the world's smartphones in the first quarter of 2012, predicting then that indigenous makers were poised to play an increasingly important role in the market.

The latest figures suggest now that the leading Internet companies, such as Baidu Inc and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, are also expected to increase competition at the low end, it said.

"We are seeing more local brands enter the smartphone arena and they represent a growing force for competition against international vendors," said Nicole Peng, Canalys' research director for China.

She highlighted that emerging vendors like Xiaomi Corp and Green Orange are building a reputation quickly in the youth market.

However, Canalys also expected that international giants will remain strong at the high-end market despite growing number of competitors.

"Vendors such as Apple Inc, HTC Corp and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd will continue to dominate in the space above 2,500 yuan ($400)," said Peng, adding that the high-end market will still account for almost two-thirds of shipment value before the end of 2016.