Market researcher GfK Group expects smartphones with displays of up to 5.6 inches to become mainstream this year after a spike in sales of handsets with larger screens last year, as consumers replaced 4-inch and 4.5-inch smartphones.
Shipments of 5-inch to 5.6-inch smartphones jumped 150 percent last year from the previous year, GfK said in a statement released on Thursday, without offering specific shipment figures.
GfK foresees robust growth for shipments of smartphones with larger screens extending into this year and driving worldwide smartphone shipments to growth of 14 percent from last year to 1.39 billion units, thanks to rising demand for larger-display smartphones.
The research firm said the 14 percent annual growth momentum is weaker than last year’s 23 percent annual growth due to increasing smartphone penetration rates in developed markets.
Worldwide smartphone shipments totaled 1.227 billion units last year, with total sales valued at US$381.1 billion for the whole year, according to GfK.
GfK analyst Kevin Walsh said growth momentum for smartphone shipments would mainly come from emerging markets instead of developed markets this year.
The analyst said he sees global smartphone shipments growing in tandem with rising smartphone demand for devices with bigger screens in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, with sales predicted to grow 33 percent annually in those areas.
Industry watcher Gartner Inc echoed GfK’s predictions about the potential for emerging markets to drive worldwide smartphone shipments.
Gartner said it estimates the penetration rate of smartphones was 30 percent in sub-Saharan Africa last year, representing a sizable potential for growth.
Besides smartphone display sizes, Gartner said it expects smartphone makers to differentiate their high-end products this year by continuing to focus their efforts on imaging capabilities.
Gartner research director Annett Zimmermann said she foresees the consumer’s interests in taking selfies and videos continuing to be the main trend this year and going forward, pushing smartphone vendors to continue investing in upgrading camera specifications and video quality.
Smartphone makers would enhance both hardware and software by taking such measures as adopting optical image stabilization, adding sophisticated video editing tools or a higher resolution front camera to offer a better user experience, she said in a statement released on Thursday.
Zimmermann said with the increasing smartphone penetration rate worldwide she expects an even fiercer competitive mobile phone market this year, as vendors find it more difficult to differentiate their products.
Smartphone vendors also have to deal with new uncertainty in the eurozone, which could lead to increased costs, she said.
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