- Worldwide Smartphone shipments will cross the 1 billion mark in 2016, reaching 1,095 million, and account for 51 percent of total handset shipments in that year.
- The increasing penetration of Smartphones bodes well for both operators and handset vendors. It helps an operator to get subscribers onto bundled plans, which strengthens ARPU, and reduces churn. Furthermore, migration of subscribers from feature phones and basic handsets to Smartphones helps handset vendors strengthen their revenue.
- Smartphones accounted for around 31 percent of total handset shipments during the full year 2011. This figure is expected to reach 39.1 percent in 2012. Moreover, by 2016, more than half (51 percent) of total handset shipments will be Smartphones.
- It is estimated that the number of Smartphone users will cross the 3-billion mark by 2016, up from 770 million as of end-2011. However, Non-Smartphone users will continue to overshadow Smartphone users year-on-year, and would be a substantial category during the same period. It is estimated that the Non-Smartphone user base that stood at 5.20 billion as of end-2011, will reach 5.41 billion by end-
2016, after peaking at 5.48 billion by end-2014.