What will the smartphone market look like in 2018? IDC says it knows

What does the future hold for the smartphone market? Research firm IDC thinks it knows the answer based on its data. First, we should point out that the company expects 1.2 billion smartphones to be shipped globally this year, a 21% improvement over the 1 billion shipped last year. By 2018, IDS sees 1.8 billion smartphones shipping, for a 12.3% annual growth rate from 2013 through that year.



While the number of smartphones getting shipped is going up, IDC sees the price going down. From an average selling price of $314 this year (down 6.3% from $335 last year), prices should continue dropping ...