The Global Market for Mobile Phones

There are wide differences in types of phones, though, with smartphones like the iPhone from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and the Android-based Galaxy S3 from Samsung Electronics more widely adopted in the developed world and feature phones more prevalent in Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the BRICs). Part of the divide here is due to unavailability of high-speed 3G and 4G networks, as well as the higher data costs of the high-speed networks.

A couple of interesting tidbits from Nielsen’s report:

• Among developed markets, smartphone ownership is lowest in the U.S. based on data collected during the first two quarters of 2012, but has steadily increased over the last few years, reaching 61 percent by December 2012.
• Younger users are more likely to own smartphones and older users are more likely to own feature phones.
• Russia (51%) and Brazil (48%) lead in consumers who own more than one mobile device.

The Nielsen report is available here.