In the China market, China-based vendors have a significant advantage in pricing for TD-LTE smartphones compared with international vendors and therefore are seeing combined shipments that soon stand a chance of exceeding international vendors, according to China-based handset supply chain makers.

Qualcomm, Marvell, Taiwan-based MediaTek and China-based Spreadtrum Communications have offered multi-mode and multi-band TD-LTE chips solutions in hot price competition, the sources said. Samsung Electronics, HTC and Sony Mobile Communications, as well as China-based Huawei Device, Lenovo, Oppo and Vivo have launched TD-LTE smartphones mainly for sale at above CNY2,000 (US$325), while China-based Coolpad, K-Touch and Hisense have launched models priced at up to CNY1,000 and other China-based vendors are expected to follow suit in the fourth quarter, the sources indicated. According to China-based TD-SCDMA Industry Alliance, there have been more than 200 models of TD-LTE smartphones and terminal devices available and over 20 million TD-LTE subscribers in the China market.

Sales of TD-LTE smartphones in the China market in the first half of 2014 fell short of original expectations, however, three main mobile telecom carriers have focused on contract-bundled subsidization on TD-LTE models and many inexpensive models have been or will be launched and therefore demand in the second half of the year may heat up, the sources noted.

In particular, China Mobile cooperated with Hisense to launch an own-brand TD-LTE smartphone, M811, in June 2014 and a follow-up model, M812, recently, the sources said. M812 is equipped with Qualcomm MSM8926 1.2GHz quad-core processor supporting TD-LTE, LTE FDD, TD-SCDMA, WCDMA and GSM, a 5.5-inch HD touch screen and for sale at a contract-free retail price of CNY999, the sources indicated.