Worldwide green handset shipments will grow more than ten times from 31 million units in 2012 to 392 million by 2017, according to a new report from analyst firm Juniper Research.
The research firm has defined green handsets as those handsets which contains 50% or more recyclable materials and free of certain hazardous chemicals.
According to Juniper, over half of these handsets will be green smartphones in five years’ time.
Handset vendors are forecasted to increasingly follow the Samsung Replenish approach, currently available through US carrier Sprint, which offers an eco-friendly Android smartphone, made with 82% recyclable materials.
The reports finds that vendors will get an opportunity to differentiate their products from others as environmental credentials will become even more important due to maturing of smartphone market.
The green handset ecosystem will be highly impacted by mobile network operators due to their unique customer-facing position, including recycling initiatives and providing eco-ratings at point-of-sale.
The report recommends that vendors need to consider the impact of data centres as part of the impact of smartphones and tablets, which are increasingly used for cloud applications.
The research firm finds that convergence in smart devices has reduced the number of devices owned, and therefore charged, hence reducing the carbon footprint.
