China's mobile phone users experienced "cut"

China is becoming the most influential mobile phone market in the world - at the same time, the market is also becoming saturated.

Statistics from Statista show that the overall growth rate of China's mobile phone users are slowing month by month. From April 2013 to April 2014 in the statistical range, the monthly chain growth rate of China's mobile phone users showed a clear downward trend:

1. The growth rate in the first five months remained at between 0.8% and 1%; in the following seven months, the growth rate rapidly dropped below 0.5%;

2. There was a brief rebound (up to 0.7%) in March 2014, but it quickly dropped again in April;

3. New Year's Eve compared to New Year growth rate, you will find that the gap more than 3 times.

In addition to this statistic, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently released official data on the number of mobile phone users in China in May. Compared with April, the growth rate was only 0.36%, still below 0.5%.

The reason for this phenomenon seems not hard to find out. Data from third parties show that in 2012, the number of mobile phone users in China accounted for 89% of the total population; official data in 2014 showed that this percentage has increased to 90.8%.

Yes, China's mobile phone market is approaching saturation.

Although there is a clear cyclical demand for changeovers among middle- and high-income groups, the broader mass market is still cautious about changing cellphones frequently. Therefore, the popularity of mobile phone users close to the ceiling, the data for the entire market potential assessment, still has a high reference value.

Similarly, companies looking to rejuvenate their smartphones to create new business opportunities also need to be cautious because smartphones penetration is equally high in China. Another data from 2012 shows that China accounted for 66% of smartphone users, that is, two-thirds of mobile phone users have completed at least one device intelligent upgrade; and this data is available in emerging markets such as Russia, Brazil and India, only 37%, 36% and 10% respectively.

- This is only the 2012 statistics. Over the past two years is the rapid development of smart phones, it can be speculated that today's proportion of China's smart phones will be higher.

The only evidence that can ease the concerns of this market comes from our neighbor Korea. At present, the proportion of mobile phone users in South Korea accounts for more than 99% of population density, but Koreans are optimistic that their market still has "room to grow."