Washington, Feb 27 (IANS): Growth in global smartphone shipments would fall sharply this year and keep slowing through 2018, warns research.

“Growth in worldwide smartphone shipments could drop from 39.2 percent last year to 19.3 percent this year, 8.3 percent in 2017, and 6.2 percent in 2018,” said global market firm International Data Corporation (IDC) in its latest 'Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker' report.

Average prices would drop significantly as demand shifts to China and other developing countries, IDC added.

Android would maintain its reign as the leading operating system while Apple's iOS would remain the number 2 platform behind Android in 2018.

2014 will be an enormous transition year for the smartphone market.

Not only would growth decline more than ever before, but the driving forces behind smartphone adoption would change too.

“New markets for growth bring different rules to play by and 'premium' will not be a major factor in the regions driving overall market growth,” informed IDC programme director Ryan Reit in a statement.

IDC forecasts a rise in Windows Phone's global market share from 3.9 percent this year to 7 percent in 2018.

“That may not seem like a huge leap, but such growth will outshine the market share declines predicted for the other major mobile platforms,” it added.

BlackBerry would be under constant attack from the competition. Its higher-than-average prices compared to other platforms could inhibit its growth potential.

Manufacturers are increasingly focusing on China where many consumers are upgrading from basic cellphones to smartphones selling cheap.

IDC expects the overall smartphone market to become more saturated over the next few years.