Global smartphone market to increase at a CAGR of 42%

The global smartphone market has been forecast to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 42% over the next six years, increasing from a value of $152 billion in 2011, to hit a valuation of $1.6 trillion by 2018.

Growth within the global smartphones market is expected to continue over the cover as devices increase access to the Internet, achieve almost universal penetration, and support machine to machine communications.

This is in the context of a world communications infrastructure that is changing. Technology is enabling interaction, innovation, and sharing of knowledge in new ways. Smartphones promise to bring significant new mobile communications capability making the Internet available for increasingly productive, efficient use.

Smartphone principal competitive factors include price, product features, relative price/performance, product quality and reliability, design innovation, a strong third-party software and peripherals ecosystem, marketing and distribution capability, service and support, and corporate reputation.

Over one-half of all smartphones in the global market are made by Apple and Samsung. Other phone makers are so far behind that there is essentially no relevant third player. Research in Motion, a potential contender for that spot, has said its new line of BlackBerry devices will not be ready until next year.

Samsung supplies Apple with some of the components used in the iPhone and iPad, making Samsung a major market participant.

Even as Apple defeated Samsung in a patent dispute, the smartphone vendors are not likely to see much change, as they both continue to lead the global smartphone market.

Motorola Mobility and Nokia, two companies lagging in the global smartphone market, held events last Wednesday in New York to unveil their latest smartphones, just one week before Apple is scheduled to introduce its next iPhone.

For more information on the global smartphone market, see the latest research: Global Smartphone Market Report

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