The number of smartphone users in the UK will grow more slowly than in other Western European countries between 2013 and 2018, figures from digital marketing, media and commerce research company eMarketer show.
The research company predicts the number of smartphone users in the UK will grow from 33.2 million in 2013 to 46.4 million in 2018; a growth rate of 39.7 per cent. The growth is lower than eMarketer's figures for the remaining EU5 markets of Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. In turn, growth in those markets falls short of Poland, the only other European market ranked in an eMarketer listing of the top 25 countries by number of smartphone users.
eMarketer's figures show France will experience the highest growth in the EU5, with user numbers set to grow from 21 million in 2013 to 43.7 million in 2018; a growth rate of 108 per cent. Germany comes next with user numbers tipped to increase from 29.6 million in 2013 to 59.2 million in 2018 (100 per cent), followed by Italy, where users are expected to increase from 19.5 million to 37 million (89.7 per cent). Growth in the number of Spanish smartphone users is tipped to rise from 18.9 million to 29.5 million, a growth rate of 56 per cent.
Smartphone user numbers in Poland will experience the highest overall growth of all European countries included in the forecast, albeit from a lower starting point than the Western European countries covered.
Users in Poland are tipped to increase from 9.4 million in 2013 to 20.8 million in 2018; a 121 per cent rise.
eMarketer tips Russia to replace Japan as the world's fourth-largest smartphone market by user numbers in 2015. The company predicts Russian smartphone users will hit 58.2 million in 2015 compared to 57.4 million in Japan. Over the course of 2013 to 2018, Russian smartphone users are tipped to grow 113.4 per cent--from 35.8 million users in 2013 to 76.4 million in 2018.
Turkish users are expected to grow from 15.3 million to 40.7 million; a growth rate of 166 per cent.
eMarketer's ranking of the world's top 25 countries by smartphone users feature in a broader report by the company that predicts the number of smartphone users globally will break 2 billion in 2016. The company also forecasts that smartphone ownership will exceed that of feature phones for the first time in 2018, when smartphone users will account for 51.7 per cent of the total mobile device market.
The company included estimates for the Middle East and Africa in its report for the first time, after almost doubling the number of countries covered to 41 in total.
For more:
- see this eMarketer press release
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