Earlier this week, market researcher IDC came out with a headline-grabbing statistic:  Mobile phone sales scales will tip in favor of smartphones, which are expected to out-ship feature phones for the first time ever later this year.

At Broadcom, this moment is something we’ve predicted — and anticipated — for nearly a decade.

Orange’s Valencia: an affordable smartphone with Broadcom’s 3G tech inside.

IDC forecasts vendors shipping some 919 million smartphones in 2013, just over the halfway mark of the global total mobile phone shipments for the year.

Perhaps the more interesting data points buried in IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker illustrate exactly where that growth is coming from: China and India. The world’s two most populous countries are projected to be the biggest market drivers for smartphone sales in the next few years.

“The balance of smartphone demand is gradually shifting to emerging markets where smartphone user bases are still relatively small and economic prospects are considerably higher,” IDC said in a statement. “Smartphone demand is burgeoning in these large, populous nations as their respective economies have grown; this has made for a larger middle class that is prepared to buy smartphones.”

Broadcom is aiming to capitalize on this trend by focusing on emerging markets, including China and India. The company has made inroads with design wins from big players there, including Samsung, ZTE, TCL and others.

“We are right in the thick of it, since we have low-cost smartphones that we are selling to China and India,” said Mike Civiello, senior director of product marketing for mobile platforms in the Mobile & Wireless Group at Broadcom. “Those two markets are obviously very interesting to us.”

Related: Broadcom’s Triple Threat: “Turnkey” Platforms Lower Smartphone Costs

Over the past two years, the company has rolled out a number of affordable smartphone technologies aimed at emerging markets. Among its latest is a turnkey 3G platform aimed to help device manufacturers in emerging markets roll out fresh, full-featured Android smartphones at a lower cost.

The biggest smartphone market, of course, is China, which last year supplanted the U.S. as the global leader in smartphone shipments, IDC’s data showed. China is expected to see 301 million smartphones shipped this year, for a total of 30 percent of the market. By 2017, that number is projected to jump to 458 million smartphones shipped, while its market share holds steady at 32 percent.

India is the big standout for future smartphone growth, according to IDC’s stats. It’s expected to see smartphone shipments skyrocket more than 400 percent by 2017 to 156 million phones shipped.

From the release:

“Even as China starts to mature, there remains enormous untapped potential in other emerging markets like India, where we expect less than half of all phones shipped there to be smartphones by 2017, and yet it will weigh in as the world’s third largest market.”

Consumers’ excitement around the smartphone experience — and how it’s changing the world’s concept of mobile communications — wouldn’t happen with out seamless integration at the chip level, Broadcom’s Civiello said. The company’s big advantage is being able to pack in best-in-class technologies into 3G platforms, which help phone manufacturers save on costs and speeds up their products’ time-to-market.

“We offer the lowest power consumption for a 3G phone, and we have the best Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth technologies, all of the features and benefits consumers are looking for,” he said.

Related:

• 3G Mobile Portfolio Nabs Awards in China
• Meet the $100 Smartphone: A Top Growth-Driver in Emerging Markets
• T-Mobile Taps Broadcom for Affordable Smartphone
• Vodafone Launches Smart II, an Affordable Smartphone for the Masses
• Broadcom Fuels the Affordable Smartphone Revolution
• Bringing the “Smartphone Experience” to All

It’s a big world out there. Broadcom recognizes that the love of — and the demand for — the latest and greatest consumer electronics technologies knows no geographic bounds.

As Broadcom heads to Las Vegas for the International Consumer Electronics show this week — where the gadget pageantry is set to dominate the tech media in the U.S. — we’re looking beyond Western borders.

Broadcom’s products are  found everywhere on the planet, from urban corporate data centers and the cloud, to the most isolated villages.

At CES, Broadcom is set to explore what it means to have a truly “Connected Life,” where mobility, Internet access and connectivity converge in a seamless way whether you are at home, at work, or on the go.

In the past year, Broadcom has announced innovative breakthroughs for emerging markets across a number of categories including the growth of affordable smartphones, the increasing demand for robust cable TV infrastructure and the proliferation of broadband around the world. It’s all part of Broadcom’s commitment to “Connecting Everything.”

Among the examples:

• China: Last year, Broadcom announced key infrastructure technologies that are modernizing the pay-TV landscape in the world’s most populous country. New innovations in cable developed by Broadcom engineers, ushered in the DOCSIS EoC in China. The result is something that specifically addresses China’s government-mandated Next Generation Broadband, or NGB, initiative with a cost-effective and high performance way of implementing high-speed cable networks.

• Latin America: For a growing number of TV subscribers in Latin America, TV will become an interactive hub that will allow consumers to check their online bank accounts, purchase the latest designs spotted on a favorite telenovela character, or learn more about the upcoming World Cup. Thanks to Broadcom technology, Brazilians are being ushered into the digital TV age.  Broadcom’s technology delivers ISDB-T digital TV broadcasts with faster data speeds, lower power consumption and better costs for operators. Brazilian subscribers will get a chance to check out the benefits of Hybrid TV, which combines DTT with satellite, cable or IPTV to deliver totally new services like video-on-demand and DVR.

• India: With more than 94 million analog cable TV households, India’s TV market is getting a makeover, thanks in part to Broadcom technology. This past summer, Broadcom announced its new BCM7014, which allows Indian operators to quickly transition from analog to digital TV programming and services as part of its national mandate for TV to go entirely digital.

• Russia and beyond: On the smartphone front, Broadcom’s work in reducing the costs for manufacturers is translating to the adoption of the devices across a number of emerging markets. Earlier this year, Broadcom announced the BCM21553 — a “3G phone-on-a-chip” that’s now powering devices such as T-Mobile’s Concord and Vodafone’s Smart 2. These affordable sub-$100 smartphones are expected to make up an estimated more than a quarter of the global smartphone market and account for more than $240 billion in sales by 2017. Drilling down further, these devices are estimated to make up 24 percent of the mobile phone market in Brazil, 26 percent in Russia, 22 percent in China and 19 percent in India by then.

Looking ahead, Broadcom will continue to identify not only the key emerging markets that might benefit from its connectivity innovations but will also look across the spectrum of technologies — from smartphones to television to network infrastructure.

Check back later this week for highlights from an International Press Conference that Broadcom will be hosting for journalists who’ll be at CES from countries around the world.

Not heading to Vegas? Get the latest CES news from Broadcom and our partners by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter and reading the blog.

Related:

• Pay TV Goes Global: China on the Verge
• C-DOCSIS Greenlighted, Ushers Next-Gen Broadband to China
• Broadcom Fuels the Affordable Smartphone Revolution
• With Broadcom Technology, India’s Digital TV Transition is About More than a Better Picture

Today’s smartphones are more like handheld computers with elegant touch screens: Internet-connected devices that allow consumers to do things like share photos and stream videos, get directions and play games.

But under the hood, complex pieces of hardware power a robust software system to make such a seamless experience possible. This hardware-software combination is the result of years of research, development, design and assembly work – and a lot of money, making the devices cost a small fortune when they hit store shelves.

According to research firm Canalys, half of the smartphones that will be shipped globally this year will cost more than $500 – that’s before discounts and subsidies from wireless carriers. More than 30 percent of them will top $600.

With Broadcom’s help, that’s starting to change. Broadcom has been developing technology designed to reduce the cost of entry for smartphone-hungry consumers in emerging markets such as India, Africa and Latin America.

More Affordable Smartphones

In February, Broadcom announced three smartphone platforms optimized to offer native support for Google’s Android 4.0 operating system, code-named Ice Cream Sandwich. The platforms support top-notch graphics, video and application processing, which allows device-makers to build smartphones that provide the best in graphics, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and more in one integrated platform. That, in turn, lowers the overall manufacturing costs for savings that can be passed on to consumers.

Last month, British mobile telecom magnate Vodafone launched the Smart II, a mass market smartphone that averages about $130, depending on the region. That device features Broadcom’s BCM21553 832 mHz processor, which has twice the computing power of the high-end smartphones of four years ago, at a fraction of the price. Vodafone serves about 150 million customers in India and 57 million in Southern Africa, through its majority ownership of Vodacom.

Adoption on the Rise

The availability of lower-cost smartphones like the Smart II is expected to bring rapid growth to the overall market as more people adopt them. Already, Canalys projects that the global smartphone market will reach 1.1 billion devices by the end of the year, a 43 percent upswing from 2011. By 2016, that number is expected to jump to 2.5 billion – and nearly half of those phones will ring in under $300.

Some regions – notably, the U.S. and China – already make up a significant segment of the smartphone market, with the two countries neck-and-neck in consumer adoption.
In the coming years, China is expected to leapfrog the U.S.

Driving the adoption rate in China are mainstream Internet companies such as Baidu and Alibaba looking to enter the low-cost smartphone market. It’s similar to how Google entered the market with Android-powered devices in developed countries. India and Brazil are also on tap to see growth in demand for affordable smartphones.

In many countries, smartphones will become the first – and only – connected device for a large segment of the population, providing them with access to the Web, social networking and a mighty ecosystem of mobile apps. For Broadcom, that means that a greater number of people will experience a “connected” lifestyle that empowers them to discover information, entertainment and more from a robust computing device that fits into the palm of their hands.

Related:
• Vodafone Launches Smart II, an Affordable Smartphone for the Masses
• Executive Perspective: Broadcom’s Bob Rango
• Smartphone Growth Just Beginning as Focus Shifts to Emerging Markets
• Broadcom’s Smartphone Platforms Optimized for Android Ice Cream Sandwich
• Broadcom Corp.: “Adding Flavor to Ice Cream Sandwich” (pdf)

Industry buzz:
• AllThingsD Interview: Broadcom CEO Touts Gains in Low-End Android Market
• WSJ: Nokia, Samsung Compete With Low-Cost Smartphones
• Reuters: Chipmakers Ride Low-End Smartphone Demand in China

With more than 94 million analog cable TV households, India’s TV market is ready for a new era. Digital TV not only looks better but also brings cool new services like digital video recording and video-on-demand to users.

The Indian government has a mandate to stage analog shut-offs, similar to what the U.S. did a few years ago. Broadcom’s new cable set-top box technology makes this happen at a low price point, opening up new digital cable TV experiences in India.

The new BCM7014 allows Indian operators to quickly transition analog to digital TV programming and services. By pushing the envelope on integration, Broadcom is lowering costs and power for users to experience digital TV. With an energy efficient design, user set-top boxes will see a 65 percent reduction in power consumption, as well as faster boot-up times.

Sometimes, digital transitions introduce frustrating problems, such as slow channel change speeds or higher audio levels for commercials or other programs. To help reduce those sorts of problems, Broadcom has developed a unique fast channel-changing technology. Called FastRTV®, the technology accelerates channel switches at speeds of up to five times faster than other deployed solutions. To mitigate the issue of louder audio during commercials, Broadcom uses an automatic volume leveling technology.

Tonse Telecom, a research firm in India, estimates that about 65,000 set-top boxes will need to be deployed daily to meet India’s digitization requirements. Broadcom’s platform features high integration and low cost designs to satisfy the growing market for cable TV in India.

And, with quick channel change speed and volume leveling technology, Broadcom solves common problems that occur when migrating from analog to digital TV.

Related:

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• Broadcom’s Mobile Platform Summit: Seeing is Believing in India