Report: "Superphone" Shipments Expected to Hit 100 Million Units by 2015

Posted 09/16/2010 at 8:46am | by Paul Lilly

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Right now you should be thinking either one of two things (or both): 'What the frak is a "superphone?"' and 'Is 100 million units by 2015 a lot?'

Let's start with the first. According to Alex Spektor, an analyst at Strategy Analytics, which came up with the number, "We define a superphone as a high-end smartphone with a supersized display above 4 inches and a super-fast processor greater than 1GHz."

By strict definition then, all those 1GHz Snapdragon and Hummingbird powered smartphones with enormous screens don't qualify, though we're not so sure Spektor meant dismiss those. In any event, to answer the second question, 100 million is a lot, at least in terms of growth rate.

"We forecast global superphone shipments to grow 550 percent from 15 million units in 2010 to 100 million by 2015," Spektor added. "Major brands, such as Samsung, HTC, Android, Nvidia, an Texas Instruments are driving the high-growth superphone category in developed markets."

The research assumes that consumers want bigger phones to begin with, and according to Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics, "Superphones are at the forefront of computerizing the handset market. Superphone models, such as the Samsung Galaxy S and HTC Evo 4G, are driving more PC-like features into the hands of mobile consumers."

Looks like those 1GHz models to qualify. With that being the case, do you own or plan to purchase a superphone? If so, which model?