"Dumb" smartphones are conquering the world

Smartphones are very popular these days, but because of the high prices, few can afford them. Analysts at Deloitte claim that because of this, devices with reduced functionality at a price of $ 100 and below will be especially popular on the market.

The boom of smartphones, falling prices for their components, the accelerated growth of Android – all this has led to lower prices for a number of these devices. The moment is not far off when a smartphone with a price of $ 100 will be commonplace. In this regard, Deloitte analysts have calculated how many similar devices will be on the market by the end of this year. It turned out that more than half a million. But, as analysts noted, by the end of the year, many of these devices will be very far from the classic hi-end device image of today.

In its report, which collected a dozen different forecasts, Deloitte draws an image of a “dumb” smartphone of the future. “Many users consider their phones to be “smart” if they have a touchscreen or a QWARTY keyboard, and not some intangible OS on board,” the analysts write.

Many users are also not particularly concerned about the availability of 3G: people are used to using traditional GPRS and EDGE data transfer services. In addition, high-speed Internet chips are still quite expensive for budget models, not to mention the prices for high-speed Internet. Anyway, WiFi seems to be becoming the standard for smartphones, just as mail, instant messages, simple apps and a camera have recently become. Given the drop in component prices, the price for the most stripped-down smartphone capable of all this will not rise above $ 100.

Deloitte also reports that these devices may be in demand not only in developing, but also in stagnant developed markets, which, most likely, meant the markets of the Eurozone, which is experiencing hard times now.

The company predicts that at least 300 million such “dumb” smartphones will be sold worldwide in 2012. In 2011, such devices, according to Deloitte experts, were sold 200 million.