BEIJING (AFP) - "Smartphones will quickly go down in price range," Sony Ericsson global president Bert Nordberg said.

• China to become Sony Ericsson's biggest market

Japanese-Swedish mobile phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson aims to be the world’s biggest supplier of smartphones powered by Google Inc.’s Android software, Bloomberg said Wednesday.

The London-based joint venture also said China would become its biggest handset market by volume in the next three to four years, as it moved to grab a bigger slice of the fast-growing smartphone market.

"People want smartphones and affordability will be there because smartphones will quickly go down in price range," Sony Ericsson global president Bert Nordberg told reporters.

Sony Ericsson, a joint venture between Ericsson of Sweden and Sony of Japan, said the A8i was developed with China Mobile and supports the Chinese homegrown third-generation network TD-SCDMA.

The smartphone uses an operating system based on Google's Android and will hit store shelves in the fourth quarter of this year, Nordberg said.

Sony Ericsson had 9.3 percent of China's smartphone market in the second quarter, ranking the company fourth behind Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Motorola, according to Analysys.

The company currently has a 17 percent share of the global Android-powered phone market.