Mary Meeker: In some places, people will pay nearly half their income for a smartphone

While smartphones have driven immense global internet growth over the past decade, that growth is going to become harder as the opportunities shift to countries where even Android phones cost up to half of average annual income.

Here's a chart that Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker showed moments ago at Code Conference noting just how much a smartphone costs in various countries.

In Ethiopia, for example, desire for a smartphone is high. But at an average cost of $262, the devices represent more than 47 percent of average income. And that's just the phone, not including service cost.

It's also a big reason why Android is kicking Apple's butt in terms of global phone market share, but also why Apple still garners a huge share of the profit in the industry and why iOS users are still more valuable to advertisers and app makers than those using Android.

KPCB

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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