In the next coming years, emerging markets with buoyant demand for smartphones are argued to continue to be major engine of growth while many developed markets' smartphone penetration rates are already saturated and the growth is therefore stagnated.

In 2014, smartphones sold in North American and Western Europe markets are estimated at 300.2 million units, up 7.3% compared with 2013. It is predicted that the share of smartphones sold in developed countries will fall to 24.6% in 2014 from 28.4% in 2013 and dip further to 20.1% in 2018 with a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 6.1% from 2013 to 2018.

In spite of the fact that smartphones' room for development in developed countries has seen limited, developed countries are still being highly favored by several branded vendors as those regions bring more profits. In developed countries, consumers have relatively high disposable income levels to spend on high-end products.

For the telcos, as the ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) is often higher in those developed countries, they are more willing to provide highly subsidized phones in there. Furthermore, leveraging media exposure for flagship model in those developed countries help branded vendors build up brand image and spill over benefits to their mid- and lower-range products for increased market volume.

This is why despite their big success in mid-to-lower range price market segments in China, Chinese brands Huawei, ZTE, and Lenovo still consistently launch high-end products targeting European and US markets.

Figure I: Worldwide Mobile Phone Market by Device Type, 2011-2018