IDC analyst firm sounded the forecast on Smartphone sales in the current year.  Experts believe that in the year 2013 at least 1 billion of Smartphones will be sold, and the main driver of sales growth is to reduce the cost of devices. Compared to the previous year, the growth in sales of Smartphones will comprise 39.3%. Despite the fact that in some markets we can observe stagnation “, the good sale of low-cost devices in developing countries corrects the picture. It is expected that in 2017 about 1.7 million Smartphones will be sold, i.e., in the coming years, the annual growth of sales of the devices will be approximately 18%.

 
Experts pointed out that currently there are several trends on the market, but only one of them significantly affects the growth of sales of devices – decrease in the average cost of Smartphones (ASP). Android’s openness allowed entering the world market for several new major players that offer more affordable prices. Many of them have focused on the mass market, low-cost devices.

IDC predicts that this year the average cost of a Smartphone will be 337 US dollars, which is 12.8 % less than in the last year – 387 dollars. This trend will continue in the future, and in 2017, ASP will be at the level of 265 US dollars.
According to information provided by the analysts, in the years 2013-2017, the major part of Smartphones will be sold in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Cheap Smartphones in these regions will actively displace simple receivers.

Source: http://hi-tech.mail.ru/