CHINA US Focus - Perspectives shaping the world's most important bilateral relationship

While Apple Inc. AAPL +0.30% and Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE -3.67% take each other on in the lucrative high-end smartphone market, there is another battle taking place in the less glamorous world of inexpensive smartphones in China.

 

With a larger portion of China's one billion mobile phone users replacing their basic cellphones, the market is exploding for smartphones that cost about 1,000 yuan (US$157) or less. Major local players like Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. 000063.SZ -0.73% are leaders in that segment, where foreign players like Samsung and Nokia Corp. NOK +1.24% also compete.