AAPL: China smartphone shipments to grow 25%: IDC

China's smartphone shipments should rise 25% in 2014 to 450M devices, IDC says.

The research firm cites two main growth drivers: The government's issuance of 4G licenses and anticipation that China Mobile (CHL) will soon carry iPhones.

As is usually the case just prior to a new product launch, Apple's (AAPL) market share in China slipped in Q2 to 5%, but IDC sees the company's performance improving "remarkably with the launch of the new iPhone."