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Mobile: Lower Prices Push Smartphone Sales Past 1 Billion in 2013
More than a billion smartphones will have been sold by the end of 2013, a nearly 40 percent jump over the number of smartphones sold in 2012. 18 percent of smartphones sold are classified by IDC as larger-screen “phablets”. Smartphones now comprise more than half of all mobile phones sold — 1.8 billion mobile phones of all types will be sold in 2013. By 2017, IDC predicts that the number of annual smartphone shipments will exceed 1.7 billion. The reason for the sharp increase has been the drop in prices, especially in for phone sold in emerging markets. By 2017, IDC expects the average smartphone price to be $265.
Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team, said that “the key driver behind smartphone volumes in the years ahead is the expected decrease in prices. Particularly within emerging markets, where price sensitivity and elasticity are so important, prices will come down for smartphones to move beyond the urban elite and into the hands of mass market users. Every vendor is closely eyeing how far down they can price their devices while still realizing a profit and offering a robust smartphone experience.”
Google’s Android has been the greatest benefactor of the huge growth and now commands more than 80 percent of the total smartphone market. It’s success has come because Android phone manufacturers have been able to build quality phones at low price points.
Llamas said that “Android and Windows Phone continued to make significant strides in the third quarter. Despite their differences in market share, they both have one important factor behind their success: price. Both platforms have a selection of devices available at prices low enough to be affordable to the mass market, and it is the mass market that is driving the entire market forward.”
Cheap smartphones are enabling billions of people worldwide to gain access to instantaneous communication and powerful computing capabilities.
