Tech Devices in 2015: Emerging Markets Dominate Growth, Increasing by $10b

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NUREMBERG, Germany, Sep. 30 /PRN=KYODO JBN/ --

    Global market research agency, GfK, has released part of its 2015 forecasts

for sales of technology devices, showing that the stable global forecast hides

multi-billion dollar changes at country level.

    GfK's technology device forecasts cover 70 different digital device types

globally and indicate that the overall market in 2015 will remain at one

trillion USD, just as it has been since 2011. However, the 10 largest growth

markets will increase by over $10b alone and be dominated by emerging markets.

India provides by far the greatest opportunity, primarily driven by sales of

smartphones, where both volume and pricing will contribute to an overall

technology device growth of nearly five billion US dollars in 2015.

    10 largest tech device growth markets in 2015 (GfK forecast figures)

             2014 (USD $b) 2015 (USD $b) Percentage YOY        Growth (USD $b)

    India       30.0          34.8          16%                   4.8

    China       199.0         200.8         1%                    1.8

    Nigeria     5.1           5.7           13%                   0.7

    Pakistan    4.2           4.8           15%                   0.6

    Vietnam     5.5           6.1           11%                   0.6

    Bangladesh  3.3           3.8           13%                   0.4

    Brazil      39.0          39.3          1%                    0.4

    Egypt       4.6           5.0           8%                    0.3

    Indonesia   12.4          12.7          3%                    0.3

    Philippines 3.8           4.1           6%                    0.2

    TOTAL       306.9         317.1         3%                   10.1

    Feature phone markets

    As expected, the global feature phone market continues to decline rapidly,

with GfK's forecasts showing sales by volume dropping 20 percent and sales by

value dropping 30 percent. However, feature phone vendors in emerging APAC

countries and the Middle East & Africa can be slightly happier, with forecasted

markets size of 5.1 billion USD and 4.3 billion USD respectively.

    Kevin Walsh, Forecasting Director at GfK, comments, "The size of the

feature phone market in emerging APAC countries, the middle east and Africa

also provides opportunities for the low end smartphone makers, as we are seeing

clear evidence of consumers willing to accept a price jump, when they upgrade

from a feature phone to their first smart phone."

    Smartphone markets

    GfK's forecasts show that, worldwide, the smartphone continues to grow

strongly, in terms of volume of sales, increasing by 18% for 2015. But there is

significant shift in which countries will see those growth opportunities, with

the emerging markets dominating.

    Walsh explains, "Our forecasts show seven new entries in the top 10

smartphone markets for 2015, in terms of growth by value - and these are all

emerging markets, which have overtaken developed markets where smartphone

saturation is nearing completion."

    Top 10 smartphone markets for growth by value, 2015 compared with 2014 (GfK

    forecast)

             Ranking                      2014                       2015

                1                        China                      India

                2                    United States                  China

                3                        Japan                    Indonesia

                4                        Brazil                  South Africa

                5                    United Kingdom                 Brazil

                6                       Germany                    Pakistan

                7                        India                     Nigeria

                8                     South Korea                   Egypt

                9                        Russia                    Vietnam

                10                       Italy                    Bangladesh

    These are just a small part of the forecast data provided by GfK Target

Setter 2015, which is available for purchase now. For more details, please

contact Kevin Walsh, Forecasting Director at GfK, on tel: +44 20 7890 9380 or

email: Kevin.Walsh@gfk.com

    About GfK Target Setter

    GfK Target Setter is available as a one-off purchase and includes 2015

sales forecasts for all the major technology product categories (audio products

and multimedia, headsets, mobile handsets, PCs, tablets, netbooks, cameras,

camcorders, printing, TVs, video products). It presents GfK's forecasts for

what units will sell in what numbers, at what price, by region. It also allows

clients to drill down to country forecasts by month and to see the sales impact

of setting regional market share targets.

    For more information, please visit http://www.gfk.com or follow GfK on

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GfK_en

    CONTACT:

    Kevin Walsh

    Forecasting Director, GfK

    +44-20-7890-9380

    Kevin.Walsh@gfk.com

    SOURCE: GfK