Global smartphone sales are to grow by 18% in 2015, interestingly tough this growth is going to come from now new emerging markets, with 7 new entries in the top 10 smartphone markets expected for 2015. The reason for this strong growth is the lower pricing of some smartphones at 30$-50$, which makes a smartphone affordable to a new major population segment which earns 2000$-4000$. India is going to become the biggest smartphone market in the world. What does that mean for global smartphone producers? Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi who offer smartphones in this price range are going to benefit from the smartphone market growth rates in emerging markets. Apple on the other hand does not offer any smartphones near to the 30-50$ range, and therefore will have a harder time benefiting from the growth in those emerging markets. Apple out of fear that a lower priced iPhone would cannibalize the demand for its premium version and lower Apple’s ridiculous high margins, sticks with a strategy of just selling high priced devices. Consequently we should expect smartphone manufacturers with greater price differentiation to benefit from the growth in emerging markets more than their rivals who rely on high pricing strategies.
Sources: