Most smartphones are hefty investments, each leaving buyers a few hundred dollars in the hole. But that may soon change, as a new study says 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.
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