1 Billion Android Phone Shipments Predicted In 2017

Shipments of Android smartphones are expected to climb to more than 1 billion units annually in 2017; more than twice the amount of Android phones that shipped last year!

According to Market research firm Canalys‘ press report, Android is clearly way out in front and its forecast of one billion units shipped in 2017 will be good for 67.1% of the 1.5 billion smartphones sold globally. That figure is down slightly from 67.7% of the market which Android controlled in 2012, but the loss in market share won’t benefit Android’s rival Apple.

1 Billion Android Smartphones

Information from Canalys  states that Apple’s share of the global smartphone market will drop from 19.5% in 2012 to 14.1% in 2017, representing somewhere in the region of over 200 million smartphones.

Microsoft’s smartphone market share, however, will leap to 12.7% in 2017; up from just 2.4% in 2012.

BlackBerry is predicted to see its share slide to 4.6% in 2017 from 4.8% last year; that’s a 4.6% share of the smartphone market in 2017 and would represent nearly 70 million smartphones, according to their estimates.

Relevant information from Canalys recent 4th June press release as follows:

“Worldwide, 1.5 billion smart phones will ship in 2017, according to the latest country level forecasts from Canalys, to account for 73% of all mobile phone shipments. In North America and Western Europe, virtually all phones shipped will be smart phones. Even in Greater China, smart phones will represent 95% of all mobile phone shipments in 2017.”

“The smart phone market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18%, while mobile phone shipments will decline by a CAGR of 9% over the same period. Growth in the smart phone market will continue to be driven by Android. In 2012, over 470 million Android-based smart phones shipped and by 2017 this number will have more than doubled to over 1 billion, giving the platform a 67.1% market share.”

“Over the same period, it is forecast that Apple’s shipments will continue to grow, but at a slower rate than the total smart phone market and hence its market share will fall from 19.5% in 2012 to 14.1% in 2017.”

“In contrast to Apple, Microsoft’s market share is forecast to grow from 2.4% to 12.7% over the same period. ‘The scalability of Microsoft’s platform will be critical to its success and it has made progress here by enabling Huawei and Nokia to deliver Windows Phone products at aggressive price points,’ said Jessica Kwee, Canalys Analyst. ‘Nokia is the most active vendor in the Microsoft camp and it continues to make steady progress with its Lumia portfolio… But longer-term it is the Chinese vendors that are best placed to challenge Samsung’s market dominance. Microsoft already has a relationship with Huawei and ZTE in the phone space, and Lenovo is a major partner in the PC space. These partners will be needed to help deliver the scale that Microsoft needs.’”

So, can Android take a larger byte out of Apple? Only four years to wait for these predictions…

[Image via phandroid]

SOURCE: http://uk.appy-geek.com/Web/ArticleWeb.aspx?regionid=4&articleid=9805719