Half a Billion Smartphones to Ship in 2014, Says Report

In a new study Forward Concepts (Tempe, AZ) forecasts a compound annual growth rate of 24% for Smartphones to the 496 million unit level in 2014. Some of the key findings are:

• Smartphone shipments worldwide grew 18% in 2009 to 171 million units at a $67 billion level, providing bright market opportunities for both handset and chip vendors in the current economy. The Smartphone semiconductor and display revenue also covered in the report reached $11.7 billion. With the economy expected to continue improving, Forward Concepts forecasts a compound annual growth rate of 24% for Smartphones to the 496 million unit level in 2014.

• Nokia continues to be the leader in Smartphone shipments, with an estimated 2009 market share of 36.4%, followed by RIM at 19.4%, Apple at 14.9% and HTC at 6.3%.  Sharp follows with a 3.5% market share, then Samsung at 3.4%. 18 other Smartphone vendors constitute the remaining 20% share.


• Western Europe has overtaken Japan to be the leader in Smartphone consumption, with a 23% 2009 market share.  However, thanks to the iPhone and the introduction of Android phones, North America is forecast to become the leading Smartphone market in 2010, with a forecasted 22% share, closely followed by Western Europe at 21.6%, and fast-growing China at 17%.


• Symbian continues to be the leading Smartphone operating system, with an estimated 43% unit market share in 2009, while RIM's Blackberry O/S and Apple's O/S X has supplanted Microsoft Windows Mobile for the #2 and #3 positions; RIM with an estimated 19% share and O/S X with 15%.  Windows Mobile had a 13% share while Linux variants, including Android, reached 8%, followed by, Palm’s WebOS with 2%. Although Symbian is expected to remain dominant, we predict that Android will grow to the #2 position, followed by O/S X in 2014.

Co-author of the report, Satish Menon, stated, "2009 was the year of Smartphone applications, with Apple’s leading App Store having reached 140,000 applications. All major O/S vendors have followed suit, especially Nokia...with its own Ovi initiative. Mobile Internet uptake also remained strong during the year, posting a 29% YoY growth, reaching 500 million subscribers." 

Carter L. Horney, also a co-author, commented, "On the hardware front, there is a shifting emphasis towards lower-cost Smartphones in line with the projected growth in emerging countries. Entry-level and mid-range categories will experience significantly higher unit growth as compared to the higher-end devices popular in operator-subsidized regions." 

Details of the report are available at www.fwdconcepts.com/smartphone10.