A report by research firm Deloitte has predicted that 500 million smartphones with a retail price of $100 or less will likely be in use worldwide in 2012.
“The definition of a smartphone for this prediction is based on consumer perceptions of what a smartphone is, rather than the standard industry definition, which pivots on the type of operating system (OS) used,” Deloitte stated in its “Technology, Media and Telecommunications Predictions 2012 Report”.
The report predicts that the $100 smartphone will sell at least 300 million units in 2012, representing about 20% of all mobile shipments in 2012, and about a third of all smartphone production (based on Deloitte’s broader definition of smartphones).
Deloitte estimates that the installed base of $100 smartphones stood at roughly 200 million at the end of 2011.
“As for connectivity, most $100 smartphones that ship in 2012 are likely to have GPRS and EDGE. Few $100 smartphones are expected to have 3G, unless the cost of an integrated 2G and 3G chipset falls to that of an EDGE chipset, whose cost should be well under $10 in 2012,” the report further stated.
According to the predictions report, a key upgrade in the $100 smartphone between 2011 and 2012 will be the incorporation of Wi-Fi as a standard part of the feature set. These smartphones are likely to support e-mail and instant messaging (IM) services and would also feature some pre-loaded apps, including a web browser that works best with, but is not restricted to, mobile specific sites and apps.
“At the start of the year, the processor in a $100 smartphone is likely to be about 200-600 MHz, well below the processing power of high-end smartphones, some of which will have multiple cores and clock speeds of over 1.5GHz,” the report predicted.
The $100 smartphone will also likely include a basic camera with at least 2 megapixel resolution. The report also expects that some of the $100 smartphones will be 3G enabled and will come with a suite of apps and features that a typical user would be most likely to use and value.
