More than a dozen handset vendors will be shipping sub-$50 models till the end of the next year. Furthermore by 2011, almost 25% of all handsets shipped globally will be an ultra low cost handset. And we’re talking about smartphones… 🙂
While the ultra low cost handset marketplace is currently dominated by Motorola and Nokia, other handset manufacturers like Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson are showing increasing interest as well. However, the problem is that the “big boys” have solid intellectual property portfolios — which they can additionally cross-license — hence they can jump into low-margin markets and still make a buck.
Naturally, the biggest growth for the low-end handsets is coming from China and India. ABI Research finds the latter market very interesting, even stating that in the next five years – India’s handset market will be growing from a little over 9 million handsets in 2006 to more than 116 million handsets in 2011.
[Via: slashphone]