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AS Galaxy S3, iPhone 4S and Nexus all emerge, analysts say there will be 1.7bn units by 2017.
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Yes folks, smartphones are set to grow by 25% per year until 2017, according to Ovum analysts.
And Android will be the dominant operating system over the next five years as “handset vendors rush to make it their primary smartphone platform.”
Smartie demand will be driven primarily by emerging markets, and Asia-Pacific will be the largest consumers of smartphones, shipping a massive 200m.
And it looks like dumb mobiles or feature phones, as they are known, will play only a “small role” in emerging markets like India and Africa in 2017, which has been a stronghold in such countries until now (bad news for Nokia).
“Android will dominate the smartphone market over the next five years,” said Adam Leach, principal analyst at Ovum.
“While Apple has defined the smartphone market since it introduced the iPhone in 2007, we’re now seeing a sharp rise in the shipment volumes of Android, signaling its appeal to leading handset manufacturers.”
Android smarties will reach 48% global marketshare in 2017, (up from 44% at present), followed by Apple’s iOS which will account for 27% (up from 23%) 23%.
And other analysts agree. Just this week comScore stats showed Android OS now accounts for over 50% of all smartphones in the US, with Apple iOS accounting for 30%.
However, Apple will continue to be a “key player and innovator” in the smartphone market, says Leach.
And although yet to make a major dent in Droid/Apple duopoly, analysts predict Microsoft Windows OS to make headway in the coming years.
“We expect Microsoft, despite its slow start, to have established Windows Phone as a relevant smartphone platform by 2017,” says Leach.
“The Windows Phone platform, with the assistance of Nokia, will account for 13% of the smartphone market in 2017. Despite losing significant market share since its high point in 2009, RIM’s BlackBerry platform will still represent 10% of the market in 2017.
