Worldwide smartphone shipments are set to top 1.5 billion units in 2017, contributing 73% to overall mobile phone shipments, according to Canalys. Shipments of Android models will exceed one million units to account for 67.1% of the total smartphones shipped during the year, said Canalys.

　　Over 470 million Android-based smartphones were shipped in 2012, Canalys disclosed. The number will more than double by 2017.

　　Apple's shipments will continue to grow during the same period, but at a slower rate, Canalys indicated. Apple's share of the global smartphone market is expected to fall from 19.5% in 2012 to 14.1% in 2017, Canalys predicted.

　　"Apple's growth will be curtailed by the fact that momentum in the smartphone market is coming from the low end, and Apple is absent from this segment," said Canalys analyst Jessica Kwee. "Android's continued dominance is due to the scalability of the platform."

　　Meanwhile, Microsoft's share of the global smartphone market is forecast to reach 12.7% in 2017, up from only 2.4% in 2012, according to Canalys.

　　"Microsoft has made progress here by enabling Huawei and Nokia to deliver Windows Phone products at aggressive price points," Kwee continued. "Nokia is the most active vendor in the Microsoft camp and it continues to make steady progress with its Lumia portfolio. It has had some major carrier wins recently in the two largest markets of China and the US, which will help it build momentum in the short term. But longer-term it is the China-based vendors that are best placed to challenge Samsung's market dominance. Microsoft already has a relationship with Huawei and ZTE in the phone space, and Lenovo is a major partner in the PC space."

　　Canalys also predicted that BlackBerry's share will slip to 4.6% in 2017 from 4.8% in 2012. "Though its market share will remain stable over the forecast period, in real terms its shipments are expected to more than double," Canalys pointed out in the report.