Smartphones dominating global mobile connections base - 2020 regional device adoption forecasts and assumptions

Latest research from GSMA Intelligence shows that smartphone adoption globally reached 45% of total connections (excluding M2M) in Q4 2015. Adoption of basic and feature phones continues to decline, falling to 42% during the same quarter. The remaining 13% of connections were data terminals. This compares to five years ago, when less than 10% of connections were smartphones. Some 2.9 billion smartphone connections have been added since 2010 and another 2.5 billion are expected over the coming five years.

In this report we look at how smartphone adoption is growing fast in developing markets and reached 40% in Q4 2015. While adoption in the developed world is higher at 65%, the trend is a slowdown as adoption reaches a ceiling in terms of addressable market. The report highlights the huge growth potential in India, which is set to become the second largest smartphone market, overtaking the US. The analysis also shows how uptake of data terminals is linked to smartphone market maturity, and examines the role of tablets in vendor plans and operator business models.