Apple had a dominant market share of 58.7% for 4G smartphones sold in the China market in January-February 2014, followed by Samsung Electronics with 26.4%, Coolpad 9.4%, K-Touch 2.5%, Sony 1.2% and Huawei 0.8%, according to Sino Market Researh.

　　Of the three TD-LTE (4G) licensees in China, only China Mobile has started commercial operation, and it had 1.34 million TD-LTE subscribers as of the end of February, the research firm said.

　　Apple and Samsung outperformed competitors in the 4G market due to the launches of 4G-enabled models iPhone 5S/5C and Galaxy Note 3 respectively as early as in 2013, the firm said.

　　However, Coolpad, Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo are poised to launch sub CNY1,500 (US$242) models, a segment they believe will account for 60-70% of TD-LTE smartphones to be sold in China, the firm indicated, adding Apple's and Samsung's shares are expected to drop in the future.