Smartphone
sales will eclipse those of basic mobile phones this year for the first
time as desire for handheld computing power grows, a market tracker
said on Tuesday.
International Data
Corporation (IDC) expected smartphone shipments worldwide to reach 958.8
million units, topping last year's total by 32.7% to account for 52.2%
of the mobile phone market.
"2013 will mark a watershed year for smartphones," said IDC mobile phones programme research manager Ramon Llamas.
"Looking ahead, we expect the gulf between smartphones and feature phones to grow ever wider."
Demand
for smartphones is shifting to emerging markets, with average selling
prices dropping to win customers, according to IDC.
"It is often the first affordable means of computing for these markets," IDC analyst Ryan Reith said of smartphones.
"These
are markets where average personal income is far less than in developed
markets, and therefore vendors have been forced to create smartphone
computing experiences for the low end of the market."
Shipments
of smartphones topped those of basic mobile phones for the first time
ever in the first three months of this year, according to IDC.
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