Shipments of low-end smartphones will rise at a compound

Shipments of low-end cheap smartphones will rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 51 percent from 2011 to 2016. In contrast, high-end smart shipments will grow at a CAGR of only 12 percent during the same period.

Emerging regions where low-end smartphones have the most appeal are the expected to generate the fastest growth among all regions for mobile handsets in the coming years.

Shipments of all kinds of cellphones in China are expected to rise at a CAGR of 8 percent for the same five-year period, making it the world’s fastest growing region. The next fastest-growing area will be the rest of the Asia-Pacific countries, which will rise at a 6 percent CAGR. Coming in third is the combined Eastern Europe, Africa and Middle East region, with 5 percent growth. In comparison, the well-established North American region will grow only 4 percent.

“In the emerging markets, cell phones for sale optimizing the cost/performance balance will be critical for success,” Sideco said. “Intel also will need to heavily leverage its acquisition of Infineon to ensure it offers the best solution involving both the applications processor and the modem—the two primary processing functions in a smartphone.”

Intel Not Inside the Smartphone Chip Market.Intel’s share of the market for dsGFRG34 applications processors used in smartphones is minimal at present. This market now is dominated by Qualcomm.

For the overall market for baseband chips governing all kinds of cellphones, Intel ranks third, behind Qualcomm and MediaTek of Taiwan, as presented in the cheap cell phone cases below. Intel held an 8.4 percent share of global revenue for cellphone basebands in the third quarter of 2012, the most recent period for which figures are available. However, Intel’s portion of the market represented only a sliver of the 52.0 percent share held by market leader Qualcomm.