South Korea: too many smartphones, the market is saturated

There are 48 million South Koreans, including infants, there are over 33 million mobile devices in circulation – While in the rest of the world the number of electronic devices connected to the Internet almost doubles in a year, in the Asian peninsula it increases by only 17% – By now nearly every adult in the country already has a mobile device

With a population of 48 million inhabitants and 33,5 million smartphones and tablets in circulation, South Korea has become the first mobile telephony market in the world to experience the saturation point, transforming itself into an interesting laboratory for large operators who they fear a similar phenomenon in other developed countries.

“Between August 2012 and the same month in 2013, the number of electronic devices connected to the Internet in the world grew by 81%. In South Korea the increase was only 17%”, discloses a dossier published by Flurry, an American company specializing in market studies. This growth was, for many months, even almost zero.

Almost all South Korean adults own a smartphone. Most of them have a phablet, that new mythological figure of mobile devices with screens larger than 5 inches, a category halfway between mobile and tablet.

According to Flurry, 7% of the world's population owns a phablet, while in South Korea the figure skyrockets to 41%. The US company also points out that this rich market is controlled 60% by Samsung, 15% by LG, 14% by Apple and 10% by Pantech.