Global Smartphone Sales is estimated to grow from 1.5 billion in 2015 to 1.7 billion by 2017, according to the latest report from Strategy Analytics. What is more interesting is that India will leapfrog US to become the second largest smartphone market by 2017. China, India and US, together, will account for nearly 50 percent of global smartphone market by 2017. However, smartphone market has started showing a sign of slowdown, as the year over year growth will decline from 16 percent in 2015 to mere 5 percent in 2017.
The growth and sales forecast figures don’t surprise much as stagnation smartphone market in the US will hit the wall soon. Consequently, almost every major smartphone manufacturer has either ventured or is gearing up to make India debut. According to the report, India is the only country in the world which will be recording a double-digit year over year growth for the next few years, while the yearly growth in China and US will fall 7% and 2% by 2016.
The report also claims, in 2015, nearly 458 million smartphones would be sold in China, making it far bigger market for smartphone components, app developers, mobile service providers and OTT solutions providers. Little over 31% of global smartphone sales will take place in China, which will remain constant by 2017, forecast the report.
“China has been the engine of global smartphone growth in recent years, but China is now maturing and slowing”, says Linda Sul, Director – Strategy Analytics.
It would be the first time when India will cross 100 million mark as the sales of smartphone devices in the country is estimated to reach 118 million, accounting for about 8% of global smartphone market 2015. Unlike US and China India will see a constant growth in the upcoming years. The year-over-year growth will slow down tough; the country will still remain the most favorite market for all smartphone manufacturers for a very long time. By 2017, the contribution of India to global smartphone sales will also reach in double-digit, estimates analysts at Strategy Analytics.
The smartphone sales growth in India is driven by the low smartphone penetration, growing demand of entry-level smartphones and increasing buying power of middle-class. A country with nearly 940 million mobile subscriptions is the fastest growing smartphone market now.
Nearly 155 million smartphones were shipped in India by the end of 2014. In the light of these new figures on smartphone sales, it safe to estimate that smartphone user base in India will touch half-a-bilion mark by the end of 2017.
The report also highlights the stagnating smartphone market scenario of the US. With just 1% growth between 2016 and 2017, the yearly growth in US smartphone market will be dead. From 164 million in 2015, the sales of smartphone will rise up to just 169 million by 2017.
While the smartphone sales figures look exciting, the dependent markets – solution, app, services – are pegged to actual devices in use only. According to eMarketer report, there would be 2.4 billion active smartphone users by 2017. However, 50% of phone users by then will still be using feature phones. Therefore it is clearly evident that smartphone device market will have a long way to go. The average selling price (ASP) of smartphones has declined to $265 and people are upgrading or replacing their smartphone more often than before. The replacement cycle of a smartphone has come down from 19 months to 14 months, however, the duration varies country to country though.
