We were all expecting the smartphone sales to be larger than 2012, but according to a forecast from the International Data Corporation ( or IDC for short ), more than 1 billion of smartphones will have been shipped by the end of 2013. Looking closely at this number, you come to realize it represents a growth of close to 40% in comparison to the number of 2012.
They also said a few interesting things about things to come. For instance, according to IDC, an interesting number of mature markets are nearing the saturated state. The future growth will most likely be driven by the demand of low-cost devices in the emerging markets, markets that include: Asia or the Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
Now I don’t mean to act like I know more than others or like this is 100% true, as any information read from the internet is never completely true, but from personal example I can say that usually, lower-budget phones ( especially if they’re good and well-optimized, and many of them are and pack a decent punch hardware-wise ) are somewhat more well received than new top-end phones. For instance, I live in a country where not all people can afford new phones: most of them have to put more than a whole month’s pay to acquire a new phone, and we can’t buy them from OUTSIDE the country because with the 10% tax at the border-crossing and 24% VAT tax, you’ll end up spending just as much ( even more sometimes ) as the local product. Therefore, whenever a new phone comes out, it’s like talking about a Lamborghini and owning a Bicycle. And this country isn’t the only one – that’s why, with great conviction, I agree with their decision: if they REALLY want to increase profits, they should concentrate more on lower-end phones that are well-optimized.
The steady decline of the average selling price ( let’s call it ASP ) of smartphones is also part of that major force behind the growth f the segment. According to IDS< the ASP for a smartphone is valued at 337 dollars in 2013 ( which is 50 dollars cheaper than 2012 ). By the year of 2017, the projected ASP is set to be around 267 dollars per device. Also, while we’re at that point in time, the predicted smartphone shipping is at 1.7 billion units, with a growth rate of circa 18.4% over the 4 years.
