Watch out for the international sales of low-price mobile phones next year. That’s the message from Pyramid Research.
It says the number of handsets sold around the world will grow by around 8% in 2011, with more than 1.4 billion devices sold in total. The most demand is expected to come from low cost handsets, inexpensive smartphones and Android-based devices. In total, 70% of new handset sales in the next four years (from 2011 until 2015) will come from emerging markets.
Stela Bokun, Senior Analyst at Pyramid Research, said “The demand in these markets will remain skewed toward very basic, ultra-low cost handsets in 2011 and, given the size of these markets, their preferences will dictate the global demand trends, too. The underpenetrated market segments in these countries are children and seniors. On average these users seem to opt for the simplest cell phone models, which often offer only text messaging within its data functions. The expansion of Android, typically associated with more inexpensive smartphones, will be particularly pronounced in the Latin American and Asia/Pacific markets, which are characterized by high price elasticity due to their lower average income levels.”