4G Smartphone Shipments Cross 1 Billion Mark in 2016: Here's What You Need to Know

According to a report entitled "Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker" by IDC, much of the smartphone growth is being driven by emerging markets.

| Updated: Wednesday, November 30, 2016, 15:44 [IST]

Well, it is almost the end of the year and 2016 seems to have been rather an eventful year. The good thing is that while we are coming to the last month of the year, many research firms have started releasing the performance data of smartphone market.

4G Smartphone Shipments Cross 1 Billion Mark in 2016

As such, International Data Corporation (IDC) has recently released a report suggesting that the 4G smartphone shipment will surpass one billion mark this year.

According to IDC, worldwide 4G smartphones are expected to show a double-digit uptake at 21.3 percent year-over-year growth for 2016. The smartphone shipments will reach 1.17 billion units as compared to 967 million registered shipments in 2015.

On the other hand, the global smartphone shipments are expected to reach a total of 1.45 billion units with a year-over-year growth rate of 0.6 percent in 2016. However, it is down significantly from the 10.4 percent growth in 2015.

Much of the growth can be attributed towards the increasing sale of 4G smartphones in emerging markets such as Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, Latin America, Middle East and others. Well, an estimated figure suggests that around 77 percent of the 4G smartphone devices are shipped to these emerging markets.

Besides, tariff rates of 4G data in emerging markets are comparatively low, which ultimately increases 4G consumption in these countries.

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As for the 4G smartphones in the matured markets which include countries such as the U.S., Canada, Western Europe, Japan, and South Korea, according to IDC, the shipment stats will reach 94 percent in 2016, compared to the 85 percent in 2015.

Coming down to the operating system of these smartphones, Google's Android operating system looks to remain the majority shared platform in smartphones for the foreseeable future.

The shipment volume of Android smartphones is expected to reach 1.22 billion, occupying 85 percent of market share and 5.2 percent y-o-y growth. the report has noted that Android OS will be at the core of the aforementioned 4G growth expected in emerging markets.

Windows Phone shipments are expected to decline reaching 79.1 percent in 2016 and will be around 6.1 million offering it a market share of 0.4 percent in the year.

Apple's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus have done well, but three-quarters of year-over-year declines, as well as a projected fourth quarter decline by IDC, will account for negative growth, the report added. The shipment of iOS devices will be around 206.1 million, making 14.3 percent market share.