What could possibly be more impressive than 1.25 billion smartphones shipping in 2014?
How about 2 billion smartphones shipping in 2018?
New projections put forward by ABI Research this week (and based on MMW’s coverage in recent months, this group has been doing a lot more research in mobile than usual), the organization says smartphone shipments will easily reach 1.25 billion before year’s end. But the real story is the accelerated growth anticipated over the next four years.
The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of global smartphone shipments over the forecast period from 2014 to 2019 is 12%.
“While smartphone growth is beginning to fall, plenty of growth remains, with smartphone penetration of mobile subscribers under 30% worldwide,” says Nick Spencer, senior practice director at ABI Research. “Most advanced and affluent markets already have 60%+ penetration, so the growth is driven by developing markets and the reduction in smartphone ASPs.”
