It most likely comes as no surprise, but China is set to leapfrog the United States as the largest smartphone market in 2013.
Research from ABI Research forecasted that China would overtake the US this year, with Brazil and India due to join the top four companies for smartphone shipments by 2018.
Russia was set to become the 11th largest market this year and climb to seventh in 2018.
The top five countries would account for 51 per cent of worldwide shipments by 2018, with Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) making up 33 per cent of smartphone shipments. Western Europe and Nother America would make up a further 33 per cent, which would be down from 39 per cent of smartphone shipments worldwide this year, ABI Research said.
Android had brought the Internet to customers who couldn’t afford a PC or laptop, senior practice director Jeff Orr said, with Android plus low cost hardware allowing increasingly lower average smartphone sales prices.