Smartphone and chip market study

TEMPE, USA: Forward Concepts has announced the publication of its newest in-depth study of the worldwide Smartphone market and the key chips that enable them. The extensive (600-page) study, "Smartphone & Chip Market Opportunities" covers the top 24 smartphone vendors and their 2008 market shares.

It also provides dozens of detailed forecasts by global region and air interface technology for each through 2013 of Smartphones, key chips that enable them and operating systems. The study provides extensive tables of specifications for virtually all Smartphone models, including details well beyond those published by the many vendors.

Market dynamics and the mobile Internet ecosystem are the central focuses of the study. Some of the key findings are:

* Smartphone shipments worldwide are projected to grow 13 percent in 2009 to 164 million units, providing bright market opportunities for both handset and chip vendors in the current economy.

* With the economy expected to be on the mend in 2010, Forward Concepts forecasts a CAGR of 21.7 percent to the 387 million unit level in 2013.

* Nokia continues to be the leader in smartphone shipments, with an estimated 2008 market share of 34 percent, followed by RIM at 13 percent, Apple at 9.6 percent and Sharp at 5.7 percent. Sony Ericsson follows with a 5.3 percent market share, then HTC at 5 percent, Motorola at 4.6 percent and Samsung at 4 percent. The 16 other Smartphone vendors constitute the other 18 percent share.

* Currently, Japan leads in smartphone consumption, with a 21 percent 2008 market share, followed by Western Europe at 18 percent, and North America and China, each with 17 percent.

* Symbian continues to be the leading smartphone operating system, with an estimated 49 percent unit market share in 2008, while Microsoft Windows has grown to a 14 percent share, and RIM with 13 percent. Linux and its Android implementations have reached 11 percent, followed by ARM's O/S X with 10 percent, Palm with 2 percent and Danger at 1 percent. Although Symbian is expected to remain dominant, we market penetration and shares of most of the other are projected to grow.

According to Will Strauss, Forward Concepts' president and editor of the report: "Despite the slowdown in the overall mobile handset market, the strong growth for Smartphones is partly due to the uptake in mobile data which leads to higher revenue for the operators. Because of the higher data revenue that it brings, we project that higher-end feature phones will lose market share to Smartphones as a result of the narrowing spread in (subsidized) up-front net cost to the end user."

Co-author of the report, Satish Menon, stated, "Strong 3G mobile Internet demand will drive a long-term growth trend in the global Smartphone market with 2013 penetration levels exceeding 50% in the major operator-subsidized regions of North America and Western Europe."

Carter L. Horney, also a co-author of the report commented, "The study keys in on the desirable features of Smartphones and profiles all of the vendors and their distinctive approaches."

The report also forecasts the components that go into these devices, including key integrated circuits like digital basebands, RF transceivers and PA's, communication processors, application processors, graphics, multi-touch screen controllers, memories and chips for all the new functions being added to Smartphones...like camera sensors, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM, GPS, Mobile TV, NFC, fingerprint sensors, accelerometers, etc.