Recovering demand sees cell phone sales rising
The breakdown of the figures by air interface standard shows CDMA sales growing 19% in 2003 to 89.4 million units and 17% in 2004 with a healthy CAGR of 12% through 2008. GSM sales will grow 7% in 2003 and 17% in 2004 as emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific and other regions gain critical penetration. GSM sales will grow at a CAGR of 12% through 2008 as color displays, multi-media messaging, and Java-enabled devices diversify in availability and average retail selling prices on these devices fall into more mass-market consumer price points.
3G handset sales will account for 14% of total global sales in 2003 and 23% of global sales in 2004. 75% of handsets sold in 2008 will be 3G handsets, with the remainder being primarily GSM/GPRS handsets being sold into emerging markets and low end, voice centric segments in mature global markets.