340m sub $150 Android phones by 2015

Study projects huge pent-up demand for cheap smartphones – and Android is the only game in town.

New research from In-Stat will fuel the belief that a mass market smartphone revolution is imminent.

It says this new era will be driven by older and more memory efficient versions of the Google OS, with new updates like Ice Cream Sandwich too demanding for the processors available.

The firm suggests the devices will run on EDGE with processors running at 600MHz speeds or less.

Allen Nogee, research director at In-Stat said: “Most low-cost Android smartphones are likely to be released with Android 2.2 or 2.3, since these versions are a good blend of features with modest memory and processor usage.

"The Ice Cream Sandwich step-up in memory and processor demands makes this release less attractive for low-cost Android devices.”

In-Stat says early entrants in the market will include Huawei, MicroMax, Motorola, Samsung, Spice, and ZTE.

It also believes some OEMs will make devices from the 'gray market', thus avoiding some licensee fees, royalties and taxes.

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