According to new data issued by wireless market intelligence firm Berg Insight on Thursday, the global smartphone market grew by nearly three-quarters in 2010. Global smartphone shipments hit 295 million units for the year, a 74% increase over 2009 totals. The firm anticipates that shipments will hit a staggering 1.2 billion units in 2015, at which time there will be an estimated 2.8 billion smartphone users scattered across the globe. Berg sees the bulk of the growth coming from mid and low-end smartphone sales, which will continue to become more capable moving forward. “Chipset developers and handset vendors are working on technologies that will ensure a good user experience also for low cost smartphones,” said Senior Analyst André Malm in a statement. “The challenge is to develop a handset with enough memory, graphics performance and processing power to run the operating system with multiple applications while ensuring a responsive system with fluid user interface and still keep costs down.” Hit the break for the full press release.
Berg Insight says shipments of smartphones grew 74 percent in 2010
Gothenburg, Sweden – March 10, 2011: According to a new research report by Berg Insight, global shipments of smartphones increased 74 percent in 2010 to 295 million units. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.4 percent, shipments are forecasted to reach 1,200 million units in 2015. The global user base of smartphones increased at the same time by 38 percent year-on-year to an estimated 470 million active users in 2010. In the next five years, the global user base of smartphones is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 42.9 percent to reach 2.8 billion in 2015. Smartphones are receiving more attention from handset manufacturers, network operators and application developers. Most importantly, an increasing number of users are now discovering how smartphones can act as personal computing devices enabling access to the mobile web and applications, besides voice and text services. Although high-end devices tend to get most attention, the primary growth will come from medium- and low-end smartphones.
“Chipset developers and handset vendors are working on technologies that will ensure a good user experience also for low cost smartphones”, said André Malm, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. “The challenge is to develop a handset with enough memory, graphics performance and processing power to run the operating system with multiple applications while ensuring a responsive system with fluid user interface and still keep costs down”. He adds that smartphones in general will also benefit from advancements in chipset design. In the next five years, further performance increases will come from dual- or quad-core application and graphics processors. These new processors will enable smartphones to rival the performance of dedicated gaming consoles and notebook computers. At the same time, new user interfaces will be developed that make better use of sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes as well as cameras to detect movement or gestures without the need to touch the display.
