In 2017, 1.5 billion smartphones are expected to ship worldwide. And one operating system will power two-thirds of these mobile devices.
According to the latest forecasts from Canalys, Android devices will account for one billion of the devices shipped in 2017.
In North America and Western Europe, virtually all phones shipped will be smartphones, the report projects.
In China, the spread of smartphones will even be particularly massive as they will represent 95% of all mobile phone shipments in 2017.
“The price of smart phones has fallen dramatically over the last few years and this has helped increase penetration,” says Chris Jones, Canalys Principal Analyst.
“But, so far, the problem with low-cost smart phones has been that the user experience has been compromised to hit lower price points,” Jones adds. “This is why Nokia has been so successful with its Asha portfolio. These handsets have been purpose-built and provide a great “pseudo-smart phone” experience. But the situation will change over the next few years. As component prices continue to fall, vendors will be able to deliver great experiences on smartphones at low price points, which means that in many markets, feature phones will become extinct.”
