4G to boost sales

The issuance of 4G licenses in China is expected to add 120 million to smartphone shipments next year, IDC predicted.

Miao Wei, head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said on Tuesday the first 4G license is likely to be issued before December.

The nation's ambitious 4G plan will benefit the chip and screen makers in upstream, smartphone and application developers in the midstream as well as channel distributors and accessory vendors downstream, according to IDC.

"The project is also set to accelerate other innovations in the mobile communication and Internet industry," it added.

Faster Internet connections will benefit value-added service providers such as applications and operating system developers analysts said.

China is a leading mobile app consumer in terms of downloads. The turnover of gaming apps, the most popular category, is likely to exceed 20 billion yuan by 2015, said research company Flurry Analytics.

The mobile phone vendors and telecom operators will adopt new operating systems with a more open attitude after the market share of Android peaked this year, said IDC.

"The development of Firefox OS, Tizen and Linux-based Aliyun OS (developed by Chinese Internet company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd) will enable healthy competition, although they are currently not in the leading position," it said.

• Smartphone Shipments to pass 450m in 2014