Mainland Chinese consumers spent an average of RMB 1426 (around $235) on an Android device in October , according to the latest report released by Umeng, the mobile analytics company of Alibaba Group.
The results from the report are based on approximately 30 million newly added Android devices in 200 cities and regions in mainland China.
Umeng concludes that 2013 saw a wave of Android phone upgrades in mainland China. It’s not , however, that users in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou bought Android phones at comparatively high prices.
Panjin, a small city — Chinese like me even need to do a search to see where exactly it is, tops the ranking that consumers there spent 54% more on average than the national level.
Of the 200 cities, Beijing ranks 30th, Shanghai 47th, and Guangzhou 149th. Consumers in Beijing spent an average of RMB 1671, only 17% higher than the national level, while those sold in Guangzhou were 4% lower on average.
Only four cities reached the level of RMB 2000. No wonder smart Android phone makers like Xiaomi won’t price their products higher than RMB 2000. The much lowered manufacturing costs of Android devices, of course, make the low-cost phones possible.
China is seeing smartphones penetrating to second- and third – tier cities. Umeng found there’s a difference in smartphone consumption between coastal cities and inland cities. More devices were sold in coastal cities where are much more populous while consumers in inland cities would pay higher a price for a smart device.