In many parts of the world, the typical Android smartphone, selling for $400 to $500, is out of reach for many consumers that currently have a feature phone or perhaps no phone at all. These potential smartphone owners currently only have one OS choice in the low-cost category, (under-$150) and that is Android.
New In-Stat research forecasts that unit shipments for low-cost Android smartphones will approach 340 million worldwide in 2015.
“The low-cost Android handset segment will cause some fragmentation in the Android platform,” says Allen Nogee, Research Director. “Most low-cost Android smartphones are likely to be released with Android 2.2 or 2.3, since these versions are a good blend of features with modest memory and processor usage. The Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) step-up in memory and processor demands makes this release less attractive for low-cost Android devices.”
Recent In-Stat research Found
- The low-cost smartphone area is Android’s to lose. This market could get much more competitive, especially as other OS vendors begin to target the space.
- The low-end low-cost smartphones generally stick with EDGE and processors running at 600MHz speeds or less, and a single-core EDGE chip sells for well under $10. For our purposes, low-cost means smartphones that are $150 or less.
- Smaller phone manufacturers will sometimes purchase from the “gray market” where component manufacturers typically don’t pay licensee fees, royalties, and taxes for the products they produce.
- Early competitors in the market include Huawei, MicroMax, Motorola, Samsung, Spice, and ZTE.
Recent In-Stat research Less is More: The Worldwide Emergence of Low-Cost Android Smartphones (#IN1104911WH)looks at the history of the low-cost smartphone market, and how we got where we are today. The report looks at Android in-depth and the problems that Google faces as it moves into the low-cost arena. The obstacles are also explored in-detail, as are the markets where low-cost Android smartphones will dominate.
Forecasts Include
- Smartphone shipments
- Android smartphone shipments
- Low-cost Android smartphone shipments by region
- Bill of materials (BOM) for processor, touchscreen, other components
- Country-by-country view of the smartphone market
