Smartphone market grew 55 percent, iOS declining by 2014

There are some good times ahead for smartphones, say market analysts from IDC. Smartphone market share is expected to grow by over 50% and oddly iOS will be declining in the future, with Android and Windows gaining ground.

IDC analysts actually had to increase their prediction of how much the smartphone market will grow this year by as much as 10%. That means they expect a healthy 269.6 million smartphones to ship by the end of the year, a huge improvement over the 173.5 million number from last year. That's a growth of 55.4%.

The overall phone market is growing faster than anticipated too - in 2010 the market should grow by 14.1% (1.5% higher than initial estimates). In the coming years, smartphone market will keep growing though at a slower pace - 24.5% in 2011 and only 13.6% in 2014.

Speaking of 2014, here are some interesting estimates IDC has prepared on the smartphone OS market share four years in the future. Symbian will keep the number 1 spot, though with smaller share. Android will snatch the number two spot and Windows will grow to just below 10%.

BlackBerry OS is expected to retain its current share (though it will slip to third place). Interestingly though iOS share will drop by 25% in the next four years. We'll have to wait and see if these predictions pan out - but if they do, the Redmond OS will nearly equal the Cupertino OS market share in 2014.

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