14 DAY TRIAL // Smartphones, the fast growing segment of the mobile market, are expected to become increasingly popular among end users during the next few years, some of the latest reports around the web suggest.
Not only would these devices be able to hit impressive volume shipments during the next year, but they are expected to be accompanied by increased sales of Tablet PCs it seems.
According to Digitimes Research senior analyst Joanne Chien, the total number of smartphones that would be shipped on the market during the next year should be of around 440 million units.
The next few years should show increased sales on the smartphone segment of the market, with over 800 million units expected to ship on the market in 2013.
Moreover, the analyst points at increased sales of tablet PCs too, though not at the same level as smartphone shipments.
These devices would ship in a volume of around 100 million units in 2013, though they would account for only 10-12 percent of the combined shipments of smartphones and tablet PCs in 2011.
Of course, tablet PCs are still expected to enjoy increased interest from end-users, though not at the same level as smartphones, that's for sure.
This kind of devices is not new to the market, but the launch of the Apple iPad earlier this year purred interest in the area, and a wide range of industry players announced plans to release slates running under Google's Android OS, seen as the most powerful competitor against Apple's iOS platform.
A series of such devices was already brought to the market, among which we can count the Samsung Galaxy Tab, Dell Streak, ViewPad 7, or some devices from Archos, with more of them expected to be released during the next year.
Moreover, some suggest that upcoming devices would pack enhanced hardware specs, and that many of them would be based on Nvidia's Tegra 2 ship.
Motorola, LG, Acer or HTC are only some of the companies expected to launch Android-based tablet PCs next year. Samsung and Apple would also bring new such devices to the market.