Worldwide smartphone shipment volume is estimated to reach approximately 660 million units in 2012, accounting for around 37% of total mobile phone shipments, according to new data from Research and Markets.
This figure is projected to exceed 60% in 2016, says the research group (http://www.researchandmarkets.com) Smartphones are gradually becoming market mainstream, and vendors are beginning to shift their focus from high-end to entry-level products and from 3G/3.5G to 4G system support, per Research and Markets. This trend is expected to pose impacts on competition in the upstream mobile communications core IC industry, adds the research group.
