Portable Electronics Ltd // Technology you can carry.

A number of smaller handset vendors are rushing to launch low-priced (sub US$150) Android handsets targeting users in emerging markets in 2011, with related shipments forecast to reach 20-25 million units this year. The shipment total represents up to tenfold growth on 2010 shipments, and the segment will account for 12.1-15.1% of overall Android handset shipments, according to a recently published Digitimes Research Special Report.

Worldwide smartphone sales will reach 468 million units in 2011, a 57.7 percent increase from 2010, according to Gartner Inc. By the end of 2011, Android will move to become the most popular operating system (OS) worldwide and will build on its strength to account for 49 percent of the smartphone market by 2012 (see Table 1).

Sales of open OS* devices will account for 26 percent of all mobile handset device sales in 2011, and are expected to surpass the 1 billion mark by 2015, when they will account for 47 percent of the total mobile device market.

According to ABI Research 302 million smartphones shipped in 2010, chalking up a resounding 71% growth over 2009’s shipment levels.

Android’s success since its launch is expected to continue: some 69 million smartphones running the Android operating system shipped last year, and ABI Research expects that in 2016 Android will have captured 45% of the market.

The worldwide smartphone market is expected to grow 49.2% in 2011 as more consumers and enterprise users turn in their feature phones for smartphones with more advanced features. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, smartphone vendors will ship more than 450 million smartphones in 2011 compared to the 303.4 million units shipped in 2010.

• Global shipments to hit 653 million by 2016
• Android will take 38% market share compared to Apple’s 17.5%

The global smartphone market will double in size by 2016 to hit shipments of 653 million, predicts Ovum in a new forecast*. Android will drive the growth and will emerge as the dominant platform, dramatically outperforming Apple with a massive 20.5 per cent lead on market share, finds the independent telecoms analyst.

IDC expects smartphone shipments to hit 137 million units in 2011, the first time for shipments to break the 100 million mark in the Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region.

The Western European mobile phone market grew 3.2% year-on-year to 58.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to IDC's European Mobile Phone Tracker. Shipments of smartphones increased to 25.6 million units, 99.4% higher than in 4Q09, to represent 44% of total shipments.

Android grew 1,580% year-on-year to 7.9 million units from 470 thousand units a year ago.

Most of the growth will come from Middle East and Africa and Asia-Pacific regions, which we believe will expand handset unit sales at a CAGR of 10.3% and 7.3%, respectively, between 2010 and 2015.

While smartphones, which saw unit sales of 279m in 2010, will be the fastest-growing mobile handset category.