China has replaced the U.S. as the largest market for active smart device worldwide, according to data released yesterday by mobile market intelligencer Flurry.
The mobile analytics firm last year reported that China had become the world’s fastest growing smart device market, about a year after driving in the fast lane, now China was expected to boast 246 million active smart devices (iOS and Android smartphones and tablets) at the end of February as compared to America’s 230 million. Flurry ascribed China’s fast growth in mobile adoption to its large population and rapidly emerging middle class.
The prediction, which on the tracking of more than 2.4 billion app sessions per day, just showed how China is picking up its pace in mobile market development as China and the U.S. actually had roughly the same active smart device installed base in January 2013, 222 million in the U.S. versus 221 million in China. Flurry then “used a model to project the final February 2013 installed base for each country based on historical growth trends as well as the number detected devices per country through the first half of February.” Speaking of growth rate, Colombia now takes home the crown of fastest growth for 278% growth rate but China is still growing at an impressive 209% rate of growth on top of a base of 71 million devices from January 2012 (pictured below).
In addition to China and the U.S, UK, South Korea and Japan made up the 3rd through 5th places in terms of greatest number of active iOS and Android devices at 43 million, 30 million and 29 million respectively.