Smartphone sales increase at fast pace

Smartphone sales are increasing at a fast rate throughout the world as about 3 billion subscriptions to smartphone services will be made in the next five years, the chief technology officer for Ericsson said on Sept 10.

During the first half of this year, from 35 to 40 percent of the new phones sold in the world were smartphones, said Ulf Ewaldsson, who took his position as Ericsson chief technology officer in February. Ewaldsson recently came to Beijing for a one-day business trip.

"But it is still a long way to go," Ewaldsson said. Of the 6.2 billion mobile subscriptions that have been taken out in the world, only from 10 to 15 percent are for smartphones.

The deployment of third-generation and fourth-generation wireless networks has allowed smartphone users to surf the Internet more quickly and smoothly using mobile devices. 3G networks are accessible to 45 percent of the world's total population, while 5 percent of the world's population has gained access to 4G networks.