By the end of 2021, the Internet of Things is expected to add 16 billion connected terminals.

In the third quarter of this year, the number of smartphone users will exceed the number of ordinary mobile phone users.

In the past 15 months, the amount of cellular data teens use to watch videos on their smartphones has increased by 127%.

Ericsson recently released the latest version of the Ericsson Mobile Market Report. The report shows that by 2018, the Internet of Things (IoT) will surpass mobile phones and become the largest number of interconnected devices.


From 2015 to 2021, the Internet of Things is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23%, with the cellular Internet of Things growing the fastest. By 2021, the total number of interconnected devices is expected to reach 28 billion, of which nearly 16 billion will be IoT devices.

Western Europe will lead the growth of IoT connections until the end. By 2021, the number of IoT terminals in the Western European market is expected to increase by 400%. The rapid growth in Western Europe is primarily driven by government regulatory requirements (such as smart meters) and the growing demand for connected cars, including the EU e-hailing policy that will be implemented in 2018.

Ericsson Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer Rima Qureshi said: "With terminal costs continuing to fall and innovative applications continuing to emerge, the development of the Internet of Things is accelerating. Starting in 2020, the commercial deployment of 5G networks will provide a key to the Internet of Things. Other important functions, such as 5G network slicing and the ability to connect terminals that are many times larger than today's."

The number of smartphone users is also increasing and is expected to surpass the number of regular mobile phone users in the third quarter of this year. In 2021, the number of smartphone users will increase from the current 3.4 billion to 6.3 billion, nearly doubling. Furthermore, the report also shows that there are currently 5 billion mobile phone users worldwide (excluding repeat users), demonstrating that mobile technology has achieved significant improvements in a relatively short period of time.


The report detailed dramatic changes in teen viewing habits: in just 15 months (2014-2015), the amount of cellular data used by teens to watch videos on smartphones increased by 127%. In four years (2011-2015), the proportion of teens watching TV/video on TV screens decreased by 50%, while the proportion of teens watching TV/video on smartphones increased by 85%. Furthermore, the new generation of mobile users are the largest consumers of smartphone video streaming (combination of Wi-Fi and cellular). These two factors make teens the most important consumer group for mobile operators to focus on.


In 2016, the commercial LTE network reached a peak downlink data rate of 1 Gbps, achieving a long-awaited technical milestone. In the second half of 2016, markets such as Japan, the United States, South Korea, and China are expected to take the lead in launching terminals supporting 1 Gbps data rates, with other regions to follow. With the help of improved technology, mobile users will enjoy extremely fast content acquisition speeds, with download speeds 1.67 times faster than the current fastest technology.


Highlights from the "Ericsson Mobile Market Report" also include:


Global growth: Between 2015 and 2021, the number of mobile broadband users in the Middle East and Africa will increase fourfold; by 2021, India's mobile data traffic will increase fifteenfold; although the United States is the most mature market, its mobile traffic will increase by 50% in 2016 alone.


The growth trend in data traffic has not slowed: from the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016, global mobile data traffic increased by 60%, partly due to the increase in the number of smartphone users, and partly due to the increasing amount of data consumed by each user. It is estimated that by the end of 2021, around 90% of mobile data traffic will come from smartphones.


The number of LTE users grew rapidly in the first quarter of 2016: Driven by the need to improve user experience and increase network speed, LTE added 150 million new users in the first quarter of 2016, bringing the total number of global users to 1.2 billion. The peak LTE data rate of 1 Gbps is expected to enter commercial use in 2016.


Countries planning to take the lead in 5G deployment also require spectrum coordination: 5G deployment is expected to begin sooner than expected, and countries planning to take the lead in 5G deployment need spectrum coordination, which is beyond the scope of the current WRC-19 process. Issues to be considered focus on spectrum used for commercial 5G deployment after 2020.


"Ericsson Mobile Market Report" is currently the industry's leading mobile data traffic analysis report, providing an in-depth assessment of live global networks. The report provides a deep insight into the current traffic situation and development trends of the network society market through assessment and analysis, internal forecasts, and other related research.


The Ericsson traffic exploration tool used in this report can be used to create custom charts and tables. Information can be filtered by region, user, technology, traffic, and terminal type.


The report defines an interconnected terminal as a physical object that has an IP stack and supports bidirectional communication through a network interface.