STAMFORD, Conn.—A new study by Gartner estimates that 82% of mobile phones across the world will be smartphones in 2016, up by 12% from 2015, while mobile phone shipments are set to increase by to 1.96 billion this year.
Global mobile phone shipments will be up by 2.6% in 2016, and will cross two billion by 2018, Gartner stated.
The company said the reasons could be traced to local and Chinese brands that are delivering more capable basic smartphones with appealing features at a lower price, which means that there is less of a need for users to upgrade to a premium smartphone.
Gartner said a shift to basic smartphones is happening in the smartphone market. "Users are also opting to replace within the basic smartphone category without necessarily moving to high-end smartphones, especially in China and some other emerging markets," said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner.
Gartner added that combined worldwide shipments of personal computers, tablets, premium tablets and mobile phones are expected to reach 2.4 billion units in 2016, up 1.9% from 2015 while end-user spending in constant U.S. dollars is expected to decline 0.5% for the first time.
The device market in 2016 will continue to be impacted by country-level economic conditions, said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. "It's clear that vendors can no longer market their products with the mind of only targeting the mature and emerging markets."