It would be the first time in the history that smartphones will outsell feature phones in 2013. Whether you believe or not, but it’s going to be happened by the end of this year. According to IDC’s latest prediction, 50.1% of mobile phones to be sold this year are expected to be smartphones. More importantly, the proportion of smartphones would hit 66% figure by the end of 2017. Thanks to telecom operators, those are offering smartphones at high-subsidized rate in the western and emerging markets, have boosted the adoption of the devices across the world. In addition, technological innovation and availability of smartphones at very affordable price tags–people today can get their hands on the same specification as the Nexus One for less than $200–are two factors which are playing pivotal role in the prevalence of smart devices across the world.
Could you predict which country is going to take first position in terms of smartphone shipments? Of course, anyone can easily say that it would be China, as the population of the country is more than the number of people in Europe and the U.S. combined. However, the U.S. is expected to spot second this year, but it would be no where near to China in terms of smartphone shipments. Â On the other side, India is expected to be fastest growing smartphone market between 2013 and 2017; the country would record a whopping 459.7% growth in 2017 over 2013.
India Would Be Third Largest Smartphones Market In 2017
China is expected to ship over 301.2 million smartphones this year, followed by America with 137.5 million units, which is quite low in comparison to China. The growth of smartphones in China is basically being driven by local vendors, those are offering smartphones at very affordable price tags. We have already discussed that the average selling price of smartphones has continuously been declining year-over-year. IDC claims that drop in average selling price of smartphones and the roll out of data-oriented fourth generation (4G) wireless networks are two key factors that have significantly driven smartphone adoption.
In 2017, smartphone shipments would hit 1.5 billion figure worldwide; which would be equivalent to two-thirds of the total mobile phone sales during the year. This time, the sales of smartphones are primarily driven due to strong demand of the device in the matured economies such as the U.S., U.K. and more. Besides, some emerging countries such as India, China and Brazil are also contributing to volume of the device.
Apparently, shipments of smartphones have already outsold feature phones in matured markets like U.S.A. and U.K. However, emerging market like India could ship just 27.8 million smartphones in 2013, over 11 folds lower than the device shipments in China during the same period. Still, majority of people in India are using feature phones. But the increasing popularity of 3G networks and availability of low-priced Android-powered smartphones in the country are fueling smartphones adoption.
By the end of this year, India would account for just 3% of global smartphone sales, but it would surpass 10% of share in 2017. Furthermore, the country is expected to be the third biggest smartphone market in 2017; over 155 million smartphones would be shipped in India in 2017.
