Mobile-phone sales in China, the world's biggest handset market, grew the slowest in four years as consumers donated to relief efforts for the nation's deadliest earthquake in 32 years, said JPMorgan Chase & Co.
According to Bloomberg news, Sales gained 8.7 per cent in May from a year earlier, the slowest rate since 2004 and less than half the 18.4 per cent increase recorded for the first four months of this year, JPMorgan analyst, Charles Guo wrote in a report to clients.

The impact of the 7.9-magnitude quake that hit Sichuan May 12, killing almost 70,000 people, may continue to hurt sales into July, he wrote. Flooding in southern China this month, where some regions have been hit by the most rain in 100 years, and a government crackdown on smuggled and counterfeit handsets have also affected sales, Hong Kong-based Guo wrote. Demand may not recover until September, after the Beijing Olympics, according to the report.

China is home to more mobile-phone users than the combined populations of the U.S, Japan and U.K., according to government data. Nokia Oyj was the nation's best-selling brand of phones with a 35 percent share of the market at the end of last year, followed by Samsung Electronics Co.'s 13 percent and Motorola Inc.'s 12 percent, according to Beijing-based researcher Analysys International. Separately, Nokia may have lost market share to Samsung as the Suwon, South Korea-based company ``continues its aggressive market-share assault on the low-end segment,'' Guo wrote.

Source:thisdayonline