Samsung ATIV S Windows Phone wins big, gets certified for China

The Samsung ATIV S may be the next Windows Phone 8 device to hit the shelves in China.

The Chinese Ministry of Industry has certified it to receive a network license, green-lighting it for release. There's no official word yet on when the ATIV S may make it's way there or even what carriers may offer it. CNMO, the site who reported on this, believes that when it finally does arrive it will fetch around 4,000 yuan ($642). This is a bit cheaper than Nokia's recently-released Lumia 920T, a rebranded Lumia 920 designed to run on China Mobile's TD-SCDMA network.

This is potentially great news for Samsung, whose ATIV S was the first Windows Phone 8 device announced, but later plagued by delays. They have been beaten to the market by Nokia and HTC and need to regain some footing. China's consumer smartphone market has been growing at an enormous rate and would be an ideal place for Samsung to boost its position in the WP8 race.

Source: CNMO (Google Translate); Via: UnwiredView

Seth Brodeur