Research: Over 1 billion smartphones in use

Sometimes it appears that everyone in the world uses a smartphone, and now research by Strategy Analytics covered by Bloomberg shows that in reality, there are over 1 billion smartphones in use around the world.

The total of 1.038 billion smartphones in use came at the end of the third quarter, meaning that one in every seven individuals on the planet has a smartphone in hand. Strategy Analytics believes that the next billion users will come from emerging markets, and that it will take less than three years to reach the 2 billion user mark.

While Nokia introduced the first modern smartphone in 1996, sales accelerated after the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. Now Apple is seeing explosive growth in sales, as evidenced by the company selling more than 5 million iPhone 5s in the first weekend on the market. The total smartphone market was worth an estimated $219 billion last year, explaining why the market is so critical to the fortunes of market leader Samsung (with a number of smartphone models) and Apple's iPhone.