The Chinese phone industry has boomed over the past year, here are some of the biggest trends of the Chinese phone industry in 2013!
Quad-core processors
Easily the most important change in the Chinese phone industry was the emergence of Mediatek’s quad-core processors. Starting with the 1.2Ghz MT6589 and later the 1.5Ghz MT6589T these chipsets allowed manufactures to add high-performance, support for up to 2GB RAM and features such as 13 mega-pixel cameras and full HD displays!
FHD 1920 x 1080 displays
With the added performance from quad-core chipsets, Chinese phone makers were able to offer full HD displays for the first time. The first lot of flagship HD phones boasts 5-inch displays, but later models have managed to grow in size.
Larger displays
Oppo led the way with the 5-inch, quad-core Oppo Find 5 when launched at the end of 2012. Since then 5-inch phones have become the norm with even larger phones growing in popularity!
It is now pretty common for Chinese phones to measure in at 5-inch, 5.5-inch, 5.7-inch, 6-inch and even a tablet trembling 6.45-inches!
NFC
Newcomers FAEA were one of the first local Chinese phone makers to offer NFC on budget phones. Their entry-level FAEA F1 Penguin and flagship FAEA F2 both offered NFC as standard and now more phone makers are making use of the handy feature!
NFC on smartphones can be used for paying for services, syncing phones, passing data, interacting with advertisements and signs or even quickly setting up an external device such as a snap on lens, speaker or smartwatch.
Low-cost, high specification phones
While 5-inch 1080 phones became the ‘go to’ size for flagship phones, prices of smaller displays, 1GB RAM modules and quad-core chipsets dropped in price. Phones such as the Xiaomi Honmi, JiaYu G2F and other devices have recently become popular as they offer an extremely high level of hardware at very affordable pricing!
Industry leading hardware and innovation
It hasn’t all been about Mediatek powered phones though. Chinese phone makers eager to gain a reputation on the international circuit have been busy working on phones which push the boundaries of performance and innovation!
The Oppo N1 launched this year with innovative rotation camera and rear touch panel, ZTE launched the worlds first Nvidia Tegra 4 powered smartphone, the Xiaomi Mi3 was announced with either a Tegra 4 or Snapdragon 800 processor, and we are expecting Vivo to launch the Xplay 3S before 2014 with a 2k display and 4G LTE!
What will the Chinese phone industry have in store for 2014?
We are already seeing some trends for next emerge from 8-core phones, to 4G LTE support, but we can also expect to see more focus image capture and lenses, design, higher resolution displays and the possibility of more companies embracing open-source!
What do you think to the latest Chinese mobile trends? What are you more excited about for 2014?
2013 was ( BTW, it’s not ended yet 🙂 ) a great year in terms of innovation and new products (quad-core, 5-inch+ size, thickness). I wish 2014 to be another one in line:
– octa-core with better energy use (i mean bigger batteries and better management)
– better display (in size and thickness)
– improved design ( curved screens and bodies, smaller frames around display)
– more Open Source and custom ROM
and less bloatware..
N1 was a total joke of a “phone” when I hold it, barely smaller than even more humorous Z Ultra.
my biggest wish is for this price and innovation revolution to spread around the world across china’s borders. I want to be able to buy mediatek FHD quadcore phones in tech shops across the street, with 2 year warranty and on-contract deals.