Most smartphones are hefty investments, each leaving buyers a few hundred dollars in the hole. But a new study suggests that half of all smartphones will cost less than $150 in only a few years.
Conducted by Informa Telecoms & Media, the study predicts that the smartphone market will be split into two extremes: low-end devices and high-end devices, retailing for less than $150 and more than $250, respectively.
Pricier phones, however, will find their market share shrinking from 85% of total smartphones sold in 2011 to 33% in 2017, the study says. On the other hand, the popularity of cheaper handsets will explode to 52% of total sold in 2017.
"As the market develops, the supply chain will increasingly be divided between two camps -- the innovators who will continue to introduce new features and high-performance components to the marketplace and followers who will take this innovation to the mass market in later years," say Malik Saadi, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.
In the future, smartphones will also get cheaper. The average price of a phone will fall from $188 in 2011 to $152 in 2017, the study adds. For more details, check out the video above.
How much did you spend on your current smartphone? Tell us in the comments below.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Beshroffline
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