India will be the brightest spot globally for smartphone companies in 2016 when sales of such devices are forecast to grow at 29%, while the global growth is estimated to be tepid at about 7% to 1.9 billion units, technology research firm Gartner said on Thursday.
“The double-digit growth era for the global smartphone market has come to an end,” said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. “Historically, worsening economic conditions had negligible impact on smartphone sales and spend, but this is no longer the case.”
In China and North America, the world’s two biggest markets for smartphones, growth is predicted to be flat in 2016, at 0.7%, and 0.4%, respectively, Gartner said. The research firm added that though the growth in emerging markets is expected to continue, it will eventually slowdown. This is because, the research company says, that about 150 million users will postpone their purchases in emerging Asia/ Pacific region, and will wait to buy a low-cost smartphone.
Given this scenario, “Countries such as India will help generate new mobile phone user growth. Sales of smartphones in India are on pace to reach 29% in 2016 and will continue to exhibit double-digit growth in the next two years,” Gartner said. India is currently pegged as the third-biggest market for smartphones.