Sharp Corp, the No. 1 cell phone manufacturer in the Japanese market, is planning to march into China's cell phone market in June at the earliest as the Japanese domestic market is close to saturation, the Japan Economics News reported Friday.

As Sharp's reputation has been rising in China thanks to its AQUOS liquid-crystal TV, the company intends to take advantage of the Beijing Olympics and begin to sell mobiles in China as early as June, President Mikio Katayama told reporters on Thursday.

According to Katayama, Sharp plans to take advantage of China's rising demand for high-end mobiles, which Sharp is adept at, and target the country's wealthy group as potential consumers.

In year 2009, China's cell phone market is expected to reach a volume of 200 million sets, four times of the current Japanese market scale.

With its new commercial plan, Sharp will become the only Japanese cell phone player in China as NEC, Panasonic and other Japanese companies quit the Chinese market respectively since 2006.

Sharp accounted for 25.1 percent in the Japanese cell phone market in 2007.