Proceedings of 31st International Business Research Conference
27 - 29 July 2015, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
ISBN: 978-1-922069-80-1
The Smartphone Market among Newer Generations in
Hong Kong
Teresa K Y Ng
The mobile industry is moving at a super fast pace, probably faster than any other
industry in the world. With the advent of wireless and multi-platform technologies,
additional functionality, and availability of budget-friendly models, the adoption of
smartphones grows continuously from a business environment into consumers’ lives.
In 2014, sales of smartphones to end users totaled 1.2 billion units, up 28.4% from
2013 and represented two-thirds of global mobile phone sales. The number of users
is expected to surpass 2 billion in 2016, and by 2017, more than one-third of all
people around the world will be smartphone users.
In Asia Pacific, smartphone penetration has continued to see exponential growth in
recent years, surpassing many European nations and the US. About 87% of Hong
Kong people have smartphone(s), making it the most penetrated market in AsiaPacific. Internet World Stats found Hong Kong to have the third highest internet
usage penetration of 80.9% in Asia, with 96% of Hong Kong smartphone users going
online everyday. Furthermore, a recent survey indicated that around 90% of Hong
Kong teens, aged 15-19, own a smartphone. Smartphone sales are expected to be
increasingly targeted at the young consumer group in Hong Kong.
In this connection, we carried out a statistical study of the smartphone market among
Hong Kong newer generation. It was conducted on a random sample of around 660
university members in Hong Kong. The male to female ratio was 53:47, and roughly
68% of the respondents aged between 17 and 30.
This article contains major findings of the smartphone user survey. It gives an
overview of the worldwide smartphone sales and user penetration; local market
landscape; market leaders; market segmentation by operating system; brand loyalty;
selection criteria; distribution format; usage activities; customer’s satisfaction; market
growth drivers and market challenges.
Field of Research: Marketing Research
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Department of Management Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon,
Hong Kong. Email: msheihei@cityu.edu.hk,