Mobile phone sales expected to hit 1.86 billion in 2013

Results driven by strong smartphone growth.
2013 appears to be the year of the smartphone, as shipments exceeded that of non-smartphone sales for the first time since their creation.
Less than 25 per cent of phones sold in 2012 were asmartphone device, however this year has seen that number increase to two-thirds of all phone sales. The CCS Insight's new market forecast has predicted that over 6.6 billion mobile phones will be in use by the end of 2017, with 1.86 billion sales this year.
50 per cent of in use phones in Western Europe and North America alone are smartphones, and CSS Insight reckons this will rise to 80 per cent in 2015, predominantly coming from emerging markets. By 2017 the combination of phones and tablets in use will exceed the world's population.
However this isn't effecting everyone positively, Marina Koytcheva, director of forecasting at CSS Insight, said: "Having defined the modern smartphone era, Apple is struggling to keep up with overall smartphone market growth, particularly as the growth shifts toward emerging markets. Apple will have to choose between sustaining its profit margin and holding onto market share."
It is not all about competing software platforms, where companies like Microsoft are lagging behind the likes of Samsung and Apple. ''Giving phone users the next generation of communication technology is going to be critical,'' says Koytcheva.
This no doubt includes offering consumers more 4G-enabled phones, as sales of the devices are expected to skyrocket tenfold between 2012 and 2017 to 650 million units.

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