Global smartphone shipments are expected to grow 32.7 percent year-over-year...
Global smartphone shipments are expected to grow 32.7 percent year-over-year in 2013, to 958.8 million units, IDC predicted Tuesday. That means this will be the first year in which smartphone shipments exceed those of feature phones, with smartphones expected to…
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be 52.2 percent of all mobile phone shipments globally, the research company said. The trend will “continue for years to come as demand for mobile data and handheld computing spreads across both developed and emerging markets,” it predicted. Emerging markets will make up 64.8 percent of all smartphones shipped in 2013, up from 43.1 percent in 2010, it said. Driving the smartphone growth has been “a perfect combination of strong demand from end users, greater emphasis by both carriers and vendors, and a deep selection of devices available at multiple price points,” it said. Many mobile phone makers have “not only successfully transitioned their product portfolios to highlight smartphones, but smartphones have become their primary value proposition going forward,” said Ramon Llamas, IDC research manager-mobile phones program, in a news release. “In some cases, smartphones have accounted for well over 50% of their quarterly shipment volume,” he said, predicting “the gulf” between smartphones and features phones will “grow ever wider.” Smartphone demand has also “quickly spread from developed markets to emerging markets,” said IDC. As a result, smartphone average selling prices (ASPs) have decreased to $372 in 2013, from $407 in 2012 and $443 in 2011, it said. It predicted smartphone ASPs will drop as low as $309 by 2017, with “emerging market demand the main catalyst” for that change. A way in which vendors have been able to keep costs down is by continuing to produce 3G smartphones alongside faster 4G smartphones, it said. IDC predicted 3G smartphones will represent 70.9 percent of all smartphones shipped in 2013 and 50.1 percent of smartphones shipped in 2017.