Chinese Vendors Drive White-Box Growth

Gartner predicts that white-box mobile devices will grow strongly this year: smartphones rising 50% YoY and tablets 15.6%. White-box products are typically aimed at the lower-end of the market, and Gartner expects both established and emerging Chinese vendors to lead growth. China is one of the fastest-growing smartphone markets in the world, and vendors can launch white-box smartphones costing as little as $50. Gartner expects 4G models to reach the price of 3G phones in 2014 and become mainstream next year. White-box tablets will see strong growth in mainland China and emerging APAC countries, although it will slow over the next 5 years. With the trend towards phablets, Gartner expects white-box vendors to alter tablet sizes to 8″+, or build 3G/4G connections into 7″ products.