Article at a glance:

China's market for mobile phones

China’s mobile-telephone market is proving tough for global handset leaders. The country’s manufacturers are grabbing market share quickly, partly because they better understand the preferences of Chinese consumers. How can the world leaders slow the gains of the local competition and improve their profit margins?

The take-away

Global branded-handset makers could cut costs and get products to market more quickly by outsourcing the design and production of some of them to manufacturers in Taiwan and South Korea.