Brazil and India will be in the top four markets for smartphone shipments by 2018, joining China in a strong performance for the BRIC markets, according to analyst firm ABI Research.

The company also forecast that the remaining country in the group, Russia, will climb from the 11th biggest smartphone market in 2013 to 7th in 2018.

Michael Morgan, senior analyst, said: “With room to grow, the emerging BRIC nations are displacing established markets such as the US and Japan as market leaders in terms of smartphone shipments.”

While in terms of total handset shipments the BRIC markets are “already in the top five”, smartphone penetration has lagged.

However, the Android platform paired with low cost hardware has paved the way for lower cost devices.

“When you look at operating system share in emerging markets, you tend to find that Android has been busy fulfilling its mission to bring the Internet to consumers who can’t afford a traditional PC or laptop,” Jeff Orr, senior practice director at ABI Research, said.