Credit Suisse: smartphone sales to top 1 billion mark in 2014

According to a new report by Credit Suisse, smartphone sales are expected to get a huge boost from the Chinese market. The financial firm predicts smartphone sales will grow 46 percent this year to 687.9 million units, and anticipates that by 2014 smartphone sales will hit 1.05 billion units yearly.

The note read, "We see robust growth for the smartphone market in China, which we think will account for 22 percent of global units by 2015."

The analysts who wrote the research note expects Apple to gain the most in the smartphone market due to “companion” gains in the computer and tablet markets. Apple is also expected to grab 23% of the smartphone market this year thanks in part to strong distribution network and hardware innovation according to Credit Suisse.

Nokia is currently having a hard time in the smartphone market, but it is trying to rectify that with devices such as the Lumia 900 that launched recently. Analysts expect Nokia to see earnings recovery in 2013 and again about 11% market share over the long term. Samsung and Huawei are also expected to gain market share.

With only about 7 billion people on the planet and 2 billion of them living on less than $2 a day, predictions about smartphone sales of over 1 billion a year seem kinda high to me.