There are now more than 1 billion smartphones in use worldwide, according to a new study.
According to Strategy Analytics, the number of smartphone users across the globe is 1.038 billion, to be exact.
It’s taken 16 years to pass the 1 billion mark, but analysts believe it will only take three years for the next billion smartphone users to come on board.
At the moment, Samsung is the leader in terms of how many handsets are getting sold quarterly, with Apple and Nokia following behind.
Smartphone growth is accelerating. It took 15 years, from 1996 to Q3 2011, to reach 708 million smartphone devices, but then it took only one year for another 300 million to come online, says Scott Bicheno, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics.
Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics, estimates that 1.038 billion smartphones works out to 1 person in every 7 owning a smartphone: “Smartphone penetration is still relatively low,” he writes.
“Most of the world does not yet own a smartphone and there remains huge scope for future growth, particularly in emerging markets such as China, India and Africa. The first billion smartphones in use worldwide took 16 years to reach, but we forecast the next billion to be achieved in less than three years, by 2015.”
Source: Techcrunch
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