Smartphones Passing Up ‘Feature’ Phones

This year, smart has finally beaten dumb decisively…at least as far as mobile phones are concerned. This year, smartphones will pass up dumb phones…or feature phones, as the industry euphimistically calls them, according to research company IDC. The combination of falling prices for smartphones, coupled with wider availability of 4G networks are the main drivers. Smartphones will account for a little over half of all mobile phone sales this year, and look to take around two thirds of phone sales by 2017. A great deal of the growth is in China, Brazil, and India. If you connect the dots, this is probably the major reason Apple is expected to introduce a cheaper iPhone this August…although price sensitive US consumers will benefit too.