[India Express] Driven by strong end-user demand and appetite for low-priced smartphones, China is expected to become the largest market for smart devices this year, overtaking the US, research firm IDC has said.According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, China will account for 26.5 per cent of all smartphone shipments in 2012 compared to 17.8 per cent for the US.
However,
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by 2016, the share of China is expected to come down to 23 per cent by 2016, while that of US is expected to be about 14.5 per cent.
India is expected to rank fourth in the tally in 2012 after the UK (4.5 per cent). India with a 2.5 per cent share of the overall shipments would be slightly ahead of Brazil (2.3 per cent).
The remaining 46.4 per cent would come from the rest of the world, IDC said.
India's share in the global smartphone market stood at 2.2 per cent in 2011 and is pegged to grow to 8.5 per cent in 2016.
With smartphone penetration in India currently among the lowest in Asia/Pacific, the market has tremendous untapped growth potential, it added.
"Low-end smartphones offering dual-SIM capability and local apps and priced around USD 100 will rapidly bring this market to life," it said.
Although 3G data plans are currently too expensive for the majority of consumers in India, IDC said it expects 3G services to become popular, and in later years, 4G to drive smartphone uptake.