Forrester Data Mobile, Smartphone, And Tablet Forecast 2016 To 2021 (Global)

The number of smartphone subscribers surpassed feature phone subscribers in 2014, and by 2021, we expect over 88% of total mobile handset subscribers to use smartphones as their primary phones. The smartphone subscriber market will grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.9% from 2016 to 2021. Despite the continued popularity of tablets in Western Europe and North America, tablet shipments declined by more than 10% globally in 2015. Tablet devices are lasting longer than we first thought, as unlike with smartphones, mobile operators tend not to subsidize the price and thus don’t create device upgrade opportunities. Our forecast details the global mobile, smartphone, and tablet installed base, as well as subscriber data. It includes data on business-owned smartphone subscribers and subscribers by operating system (2011 to 2014 only), as well as age and income ownership demographics. It includes historical data going back to 2009 plus a five-year forecast.