India will unseat the U.S. as the 2nd largest smartphone market in the world by 2017

As per the report, in 2015, Indians will buy 118 million smartphones, and by 2017, 174 million phones will be sold over the course of the year. Experts attribute this rise in smartphone popularity with the advent of local Indian smartphone companies like Micromax, which have created affordable mobile devices that have all the bells and whistles of their more expensive, foreign counterparts, but a much less intimidating and more attractive price tag.

The growth in smartphone popularity in India reflects the overall digitization of the country. Last year, India boasted the third-largest number of Internet-equipped inhabitants, with 243 million people online, whereas the U.S. had 279.8 million. Forecasters also predict that this will soon shift, as the U.S. figure reflects 86 percent penetration, and India’s number is a measly 19 percent of its population.

Global smartphone usage is also on the rise, with Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, noting in the press release, “We forecast global smartphone sales will grow from 1.5 billion units in 2015 to a record 1.7 billion in 2017. China, India, and United States are the big three countries driving smartphone growth worldwide today and in the future.” It is unclear as of yet if India will eventually overtake the “maturing” Chinese tech market.

Strategy Analytics Director Linda Sui noted, “China has been the engine of global smartphone growth in recent years, but China is now maturing and slowing. India is fast becoming the next major growth wave … India’s growth is being driven by low smartphone penetration, expanding retail availability of devices, wealthier middle-class consumers, and aggressive promotions from local smartphone brands.”

Regardless, one thing is clear. As Woody Oh, Director at Strategy Analytics said, “No serious global hardware or software player can afford to ignore the huge Indian smartphone market today.”