Handset sales predicted to climb to 8.3 billion by 2015

The mobile phone market is set to hit the $1tn mark by 2015, boosted by strong sales in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

A recent report from analyst firm Pyramid Research projects sales for smartphones to surpass 8.3 billion over the next five years, as people increasingly adopt smartphone handsets over feature phones, and emerging markets start to come of age.

The company predicts that the Middle East and Africa region will see a 10.3 per cent annual growth rate between 2010 and 2015, while the Asia Pacific region will expand its annual growth by 7.3 per cent.

In doing so, the researchers believe that all smartphone sales will push the market over the $1tn mark and bring big gains for handset vendors.

Pyramid Research sees LG, Samsung, Huawei and Sony Ericsson reaping some of the biggest benefits from the growth.

The company also sees the Android platform making major inroads into the emerging market spaces.

"Those vendors that offer low-end smartphones (like ZTE, Huawei) and those that are good at offering a veriety of models at different price points (LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson) will be best suited to respond to the needs of future smartphone buyers, whose pockets seem to be shallower than ever," wrote Pyramid Research senior analyst Stela Bokun in a blog post.

The Pyramid Research predictions come on the heels of a report from the Nielsen Company that gave Android the lead in the US market.