According to our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, shipments of smartphones through operator-controled channels, like China Telecom, will rise sharply in 2013. The landscape for smartphone distribution is changing rapidly in China, the world's largest smartphone market by volume. Clients can view more analysis and forecasts in this published report.

According to our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, smartphone sales volumes will surge +56% in Africa Middle East this year. The rate of growth in Africa is almost two times higher than the global average. Growth will be driven by first-time buyers and 2G handset upgraders in major countries such as Nigeria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. More details can be viewed by clients in this published report, which forecasts worldwide smartphone sales for 88 countries globally, including Brazil, Spain, Russia and others.

According to our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, global smartphone sales will grow by +33% in 2013. Asia Pacific will remain the largest region, accounting for half of global smartphone sales in 2013. The two largest countries by far in 2013 will be the USA and China. This published report, available to clients, forecasts global smartphone sales, for 88 countries worldwide, from 2007 to 2017. Almost every major country worldwide is covered, including United States, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. This report can be used by operators, software developers, content developers, handset vendors, component makers, car manufacturers and other stakeholders to determine the size and growth rate of the huge global smartphone market.

According to our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, global smartphone shipments grew +38% annually in Q4 2012, and +43% in FY 2012. Growth in the quarter was healthy but slowed a little as postpaid penetration matures. Samsung and Apple continue to dominate volumes due to their extensive retail presence. Huawei became the world's third largest smartphone player for the first time ever, highlighting the rise of Chinese brands. This published report -- available to download by clients --contains global smartphone shipments by the top 20 vendors by region by quarter from 2007 to 2012. Global smartphone shipments by vendor by operating system by quarter are also included in a pivot-table. The report is valuable for mobile stakeholders who want to size the huge market for smartphones and operating system marketshare by hardware vendor.

According to our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, global smartphone shipments reached a record level of 700 million units in full-year 2012. While Android was once more the dominant global OS by volume, Apple reclaimed some marketshare thanks to the first full quarter of availability for the new iPhone 5. This trend was especially apparent in North America, where Android appears to have peaked, but globally Android still accounts for a significant majority of all smartphones shipped. BlackBerry and Symbian continued to see their global presence shrink, and while Microsoft experienced a boost from the launch of Windows Phone 8 in Q4, the gain was smaller than expected.

This published report, available to download by clients, contains global smartphone shipments by operating system by region by quarter from 2009 to 2012. The report is valuable for mobile stakeholders who want to size the huge market for smartphones and operating system marketshare.

According to our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, HTC’s smartphone shipments worldwide declined by -29% annually in Q4 2012. We believe Chinese players such as Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo are grabbing large chunks of marketshare in China in the lower price-tiers, while the two smartphone giants Samsung and Apple achieved a lion’s share of volume and profit in the higher-tiers. As a result of the heightened competition, HTC’s global revenues were down -41% against the previous year and its gross profit fell by -92% annually. This published report gives more details for clients to download.

According to our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, Microsoft Windows Phone overtook BlackBerry OS to become the third largest smartphone platform in the influential United States market during Q4 2012. It was the first time Microsoft has surpassed Blackberry since 2006. Meanwhile, Android lost share in annual terms in the US for the first time ever. Are we now at “peak Android”? More analysis can be downloaded by clients here.

Chinese search giant Baidu and France Telecom’s Orange are teaming to launch a data-efficient browser for low-cost smartphone users in Africa. Both players launched a co-branded version of Baidu's browser on Orange’s Egyptian operator MobiNil. The browser is a pre-installed app on carrier-sold Android-powered smartphones. It is expected that Baidu and Orange will challenge Google’s market share due to the growing smartphone adoption in the region.

The move is also quite equivalent to the impending launch of the low-cost Firefox OS mobile platform in Brazil, which is also the product of a collaboration between a browser company - Mozilla - and a global mobile operator - Telefónica.

Subscribers to Strategy Analytics’ Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) services can access detailed country-level and platform-level market data on all the major African markets from this report: Global Smartphone User Base Forecast by OS for 88 Countries: 2007-2017, and can find a detailed insight into Firefox OS and the market potential for browser-based platforms in general in this report: Telefónica, Firefox & ZTE Take HTML5 Phones to the Masses.

According to our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, global smartphone industry revenues rose +38% annually during Q3 2012. Apple led the pack in the premium category of smartphones, while Samsung is forging a solid lead in the remaining segments, while narrowing the gap with Apple in premium tier. This published report, available to clients, provides quarterly global smartphone shipment, ASP, and wholesale revenue metrics for nine major vendors from Q1 2011 to Q3 2012. Global smartphone vendor marketshare by price-tier, and global revenue-share tracking by price-tier, for all nine vendors is also included.

According to our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, HTC's global smartphone shipments declined by -38% annually during Q3 2012. Samsung, Sony, Huawei, ZTE and others have been piling competitive pressure on the Taiwanese vendor. We estimate HTC’s smartphone wholesale (trade) ASP tumbled below US$300 for the first time in recent history during the quarter. The vendor’s worldwide average selling price fell sharply, as it cut prices to boost volumes. More analysis of HTC and its outlook can be downloaded by clients here.