Chinese handset makers elbowed their way into the limelight a little over a month ago, by snatching smartphone leadership in their home market from global brands.
In the third quarter, sales of Lenovo smartphones in China surpassed those of Apple, while Gionee, a brand few outside China had ever heard of, squeezed past HTC, according to Gartner, the research firm.
The rise of homegrown handsets is unlikely to stop there. After having rolled up the mature smartphone market, Chinese manufacturers are following global brands into the new, supposedly higher-margin segment of “phablets” – devices with displays larger than five inches that combine phone and tablet features.