Taipei,Sept.13,2012(CENS)--Global shipments of smartphones are likely to nearly double by 2016 from 2012's projected 567 million systems thanks to more rollouts of exciting products as iPhone5,according to market research organization NPD DisplaySearch.
The Santa Clara,California-based organization released the forecast yesterday.
Hiroshi Hayase,the company's vice president tracking small/medium display market,pointed out that Apple shipped more than 140 million phones in 2010 and 2011.He expected smartphone shipments to continue flourishing in anticipation that users will upgrade to the much-anticipated iPhone5,which he felt will be a key product for the smartphone market in the second half of this year after hitting market sometime this week.
In addition to creating excitement in the smartphone market,Apple's iPhone 5 is expected to implement new component and system technologies.The market research organization expects that Apple will equip the latest version of iPhone with a 4-inch display,which is slightly larger than that in its predecessors.
It will have the same Retina display with 326 ppi,which will result in a wider screen format of 1136 640 pixels.One of its most anticipated new technologies is in-cell touch,using a touch sensor integrated into the display panel.This approach can improve the performance of the display,and most importantly,reduce the thickness of the display-sensor combination by as much as a half-millimeter.NPD DisplaySearch expects Apple to utilize the space for a larger battery for less frequent charging.
Despite the excitement surrounding the new iPhone,NPD DisplaySearch downgraded its 2012 forecast of first-time smartphone purchases from 220-230 million to 177 million.The volume of replacement phones,however,is expected to increase as new smartphones enter the market.Hayase said that the timing of mobile phone contracts can also impact the smartphone market as more service providers are likely to shorten mobile phone replacement cycles in an effort to boost sales.'
