Asia-Pacific smartphone use seen doubling by 2016

The Asia-Pacific smartphone market is expected to double to 200 million by 2016, with Google’s Android operating system the leading platform, an industry analyst said Thursday. The growing popularity of the handheld devices, which allow users to surf the Internet and access emails, will mean they will account for almost a third of all mobiles in the region in that time, telecoms consultancy Ovum said.

Despite the continuing success of Apple’s iPhone, Ovum added the Android platform will be by far the most used system because it is used in so many devices. Smartphones, which numbered 100 million in the region last year, are expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 12.5 percent between 2010 and 2016 and make up about 32 percent of all mobiles in Asia-Pacific, according to a statement from Ovum.

At the same time global sales are expected to hit 653 million, with Asia-Pacific accounting for 30.7 percent of the total, it said in a statement. More than 288 million smartphones were sold worldwide in 2010. “The smartphone market will see significant growth over the next five years, once again outperforming the wider mobile phone market,” said Ovum principal analyst Adam Leach.

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