ICEA report: 83 crore smartphone users by 2022

Smartphone penetration in rural India has risen from 9 per cent in 2015 to 25 per cent in 2018, the report said. (Express Photo: Nandagopal Rajan)

The total number of smartphone users in India is likely to rise to nearly 83 crore by 2022, fueled chiefly by open operating systems such as Android and low data rates, the India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA) said in a report launched on Thursday.

“This exponential increase can be attributed to growth in rural and vernacular users and the falling ASP (average selling price) of a smartphone. Open operating systems such as Android are the key contributor to reduced smartphone prices and increased functionality, including vernacular applications,” Neeraj Verma, management consulting partner at KPMG India, said in the report. As of December 2019, India’s total smartphone user base had grown to 50 crore, with as much as 40 per cent of this user base hailing from rural India.

“Smartphone penetration in rural India has risen from 9 per cent in 2015 to 25 per cent in 2018,” the report said, adding that 97 per cent of all internet users in India now accessed internet via mobile devices.