Around 100 million smartphones will be shipped to Southeast Asian markets in 2015, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC), representing an annual increase of 21 percent.

In the first quarter alone, 24 million smartphones were shipped to the region, a 65.6 percent surge from 2014. Smartphones made up 60 percent of the mobile phone market in the region as of the end of the first quarter.

The US-based IDC said the growing demand for 4G smartphones contributed to the surge.

4G devices accounted for 25 percent of the smartphone market in the first quarter and up nine percent from the same period last year.

IDC’s Malaysian-based market analyst Jensen Ooi cited the abundance of cheap smartphones, mostly from China or local suppliers, as another reason for the considerable growth of smartphones in Southeast Asia.

Thailand and Myanmar had the highest growth rates.-VNA