Global smartphone shipments jumped 50 percent last year to...

Global smartphone shipments jumped 50 percent last year to more than a billion units and are on track to top 1.2 billion in 2014, Futuresource Consulting said Thursday (http://bit.ly/1papCTC). Smartphones have seen a “steady move” toward larger screen sizes, and “phablets” with screen sizes 5.5 inches and larger are expected “to gain an increasingly significant share of the market, as smaller bezels and greater availability of mobile content will make the form factor increasingly appealing,” it said. Though “ongoing strong growth” is expected globally, smartphones are “increasingly nearing the saturation point in many developed markets,” where they already account for the majority of handset sales, it said. “However, in many developing markets there are still considerable growth opportunities for feature phones. Likewise, the universal appeal of the smartphone -- due to its role in allowing internet access coupled with rapidly falling prices -- will result in an unprecedented level of uptake even in extremely poor countries, where a smartphone will act as a primary device.” A separate IDC report Thursday (http://bit.ly/VPYLFE) closely mirrored Futuresource’s findings. IDC estimated more than 1.25 billion smartphones will be shipped worldwide in 2014, a 23.8 percent increase from 2013. It projected a 12.7 percent compound annual growth rate in smartphone shipments through 2018, when 1.8 billion units will ship. Emerging markets have been more than half of all annual smartphone shipments dating back to 2011, “so it is no question that they have been crucial to the growth of the overall market,” IDC said. “However, up until 2014, mature markets have consistently delivered double-digit year-on-year growth.” But this year, mature-market growth will slow to just 4.9 percent, with emerging markets “continuing to soar” at 32.4 percent, it said.