According to research firm IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, the worldwide smartphone market was able to ship one billion units for the first time in one year, TechCrunch reported.
While this may not be surprising for those who track quarterly reports regarding the mobile market, what makes the latest figures interesting is the fact that the growth of the smartphone market now is due to a large part for the demand of cheap Android devices in China, India and other emerging markets, the report said.
Because of their ready availability, featurephones could easily start to be phased out in emerging markets and makers like Nokia may have to reexamine the products in their portfolio, the report said.
IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker Program Director Ryan Reith said in the report that smartphone growth is fueled by big screen devices and affordability, with low cost being the "key difference maker."
He said, "Cheap devices are not the attractive segment that normally grabs headlines, but IDC data shows this is the portion of the market that is driving volume. Markets like China and India are quickly moving toward a point where sub-$150 smartphones are the majority of shipments, bringing a solid computing experience to the hands of many."
In 2013, vendors were able to ship out a little over 1 billion smartphones, representing a rise of 38.4% from the 725.3 million units shipped the year before. Smartphones comprised 55.1% of mobile phone shipments last year, another increase from the 41.7% posted the previous year. For the total mobile phone market worldwide, vendors were able to ship 1.82 billion units, representing a rise of 4.8% from 2012 figures when there were 1.74 billion units shipped, the report said.
Samsung still ranked on top in shipping smartphones globally. Even if its shipments dropped in the fourth quarter of 2013, Samsung still had a double-digit lead over its rival Apple, the report said.
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