We’ve often spoken recently about the surge of China in the mobile market and now it seems that giant Chinese search engine Baidu may soon be attracting the masses with its own Android smartphone. Considering the presence of Baidu in China this seems like a logical step and an affordable handset could be a big hit.

A new report tells how Foxconn (Apple’s iPhone manufacturer) will be making the Baidu phone and although the phone will be Google Android-based the as yet unnamed phone will operate on Baidu’s own OS, Baidu Yi. Baidu Yi is already featured on another phone in the Chinese market, the Dell Streak Pro 43, which received Baidu branding.

The upcoming smartphone will also include other Baidu services, such as cloud storage according to Unwired View, sourced from China Times (translated). Other rumored specs and features for the upcoming Baidu phone are a 3.5-inch display, a camera with a decent amount of megapixels and a 1400mAh battery.

Baidu is said to be targeting the huge amount of consumers in China who are buying a smartphone for the first time and the price of its phone is expected to be around the 1,000 CNY mark (US $158, UK £98). Baidu’s reach into the smartphone market is certainly ambitious but as we said previously, it does seem like an obvious step forward and will increase the search engine’s presence in China even further.

What do you think of Baidu’s plans to expand into smartphones? Do you think the planned upcoming smartphone will find the right niche in the market that Baidu intends? Let us know with your comments.