Smartphone revolution to hit India, Brazil by 2016: Study

Though it may still be early days to speak of a smartphone revolution hitting India and Brazil, but the situation could be very different in the next four years.

According to the latest projections for smartphones from research company International Data Corporation (IDC), both the countries would be emerging as the top five countries for smartphone shipments by 2016.

IDC also predicts that the Chinese market could be expected to outstrip the US as the largest smartphone market this year. After overtaking US in two straight quarters in the second half of the last year, China will take the  momentum into 2012. Though the US, Japan and UK would continue to see growth in smartphone adoption, the numbers would not be comparable to those in the emerging markets.

The research company sees huge growth for the smartphone sector over the coming years aided by 3G uptake and smartphone launches from domestic players like Micromax, Lava, Karbonn and Spice. Growth in smartphone segment had been driven mainly by international players so far and they would continue to invest further to develop local manufacturing capabilities.

In the case of Brazil, low inflation coupled with a booming economy had improved the discretionary income of the Brazilian people and the falling smartphone prices had opened up smartphones to a whole new world of consumers, according to the company. The next few years would therefore see a lot of consumers migrating from feature phones to smartphones.

Brazil was witnessing a significant shift from feature phones to smartphones, and the wireless teledensity of the country had exceeded its population, with smartphone prices having fallen to less than $300 apiece.