Ericsson foresees further smartphone growth.

The increased rate of smartphone adoption is a well known trend to many. However, what many do not know is just how high the rate of smartphone adoption is. After compiling their research of daily internet users aged 16 to 60 years old, Ericsson ConsumerLab has recently released the Ericsson Mobility Report.

According to the report, smartphone subscriptions in South East Asia and Oceania will increase four fold to over 800 million users and the monthly data traffic is predicted to exceed 2.5 exabytes by 2020. This drastic increase in smartphone subscriptions is attributed to social media as messaging applications and social networking platforms like WhatsApp, WeChat, Facebook, and Twitter becomes increasingly fundamental for consumers in the region. Across the region, social media is playing an increasingly important role for consumers in Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Besides smartphones, ConsumerLab research findings also indicate that Malaysian, Singaporean and Australian internet users are the most likely to embrace wearable technology. Ericsson ConsumerLab analysis shows a high level of interest across the region for connected services, indicating a huge growth potential for such new services. At the end of 2014 there will be around 10 million M2M devices in use in South East Asia and Oceanic. This number is set to grow by two to four times by 2020.

“Ericsson predicts a four-fold smartphone subscription growth in the region from just over 200 million to more than 800 million in 2020, which makes network and application performance a key consideration for operators, especially considering the new ways consumers are discovering to consume data. In Malaysia, smartphone penetration is exploding and will increase by an additional 10% over the next six months,” says Todd Ashton, Head of Ericsson Malaysia and Sri Lanka.