Smartphones take lead with 55% of mobile phone sales
The global surge is being driven by the arrival of lower-priced smartphone models in China and other emerging markets, according to Ericsson.
The astronomic growth in the mobile arena has been due in large part to the increasing popularity of smartphones, new data from Ericsson reveals.
The communications technology company on Monday released mobile phone sales data for the third quarter, and revealed that smartphones accounted for 55 percent of all worldwide handset sales during the period, though they still represent just 25 percent to 30 percent of all mobile phone subscriptions. But by 2019, Ericsson said, 5.6 billion of the 9.3 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide (60 percent) will be for smartphones.
The trend is being driven by the arrival of lower-priced smartphone models in China and other emerging markets, according to Ericsson.
Thanks to the increasing popularity of smartphones, Ericsson believes that mobile traffic originating from the handsets will increase 10 times between 2013 and 2019. Video will make up over 50 percent of all mobile global traffic, according to Ericsson. By 2019, total smartphone traffic will hit 10 exabytes annually.