July 24, according to media reports, the report of the market research company Chibang Technology revealed that the world's second-quarter smartphone sales reached 221 million units, an increase of 6.6% from the previous quarter and a year-on-year increase of 31.4%. The company expects smartphone sales for the year to increase by approximately 32% to 928 million.

Thanks to the increasingly saturated smartphone market, the release of free and open source platforms such as Android, and manufacturers actively reducing production costs, more and more smart devices are under US$100. However, mid-range smartphones have been able to meet the needs of general entertainment and Internet browsing, so the most popular model prices are between 150-450 US dollars. Relatively speaking, the demand for high-end products gradually declined, which limited the company's profit growth.

Samsung is still the largest smartphone company, with shipments reaching 71 million, setting a new record for the company. Although sales of Galaxy S4 handsets are lower than expected, the company believes that the total sales volume of the Korean company's Galaxy S4 can still reach 23 million units. In addition, benefiting from the growth in the domestic market, Chinese manufacturers’ shipments increased by 44% year-on-year, with the top four companies being Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, and Coolpad.

For the third quarter, Jibang Technology expects mid-end handset shipments to grow by 8.6% to 130 million units, which is expected to account for more than half of total smartphone shipments. Android vendors such as Samsung, Sony, HTC and LG will release more mid-range handsets to attract consumers. As smart phones become more mainstream, the mid-market will no doubt be more important.