Sub-Saharan Africa does not feature on the GSMA's list of top ten global smartphone markets.

A new GSMA Intelligence report says that currently sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest smartphone adoption rate worldwide.

The report titled “Smartphone forecasts and assumptions, 2007-2020" found that smartphones account for one in three mobile connections today, representing more than 2 billion mobile connections.

The global mobile operators industry body (GSMA) further notes that the number of smartphone connections will grow three-fold over the next six years to reach 6 billion by 2020.

“The smartphone has sparked a wave of global innovation that has brought new services to millions and efficiencies to businesses of every type,” said Hyunmi Yang, chief strategy officer at the GSMA.

“As the study shows, smartphones will be the driving force of mobile industry growth over the next six years, with one billion new smartphone connections expected over the next 18 months alone," Yang explained.

Despite the projected growth of the global smartphone market, sub-Saharan Africa still lags behind when it comes to smartphone connections.

According to GSMA sub-Saharan Africa's smartphone adoption rate is currently 15%.

This is the lowest rate worldwide in terms of smartphone adoption in present day, the GSMA notes.

However, the GSMA is optimistic about sub-Saharan Africa as it expects to see changes over the next few years.

"Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to be the fastest-growing smartphone region over the next six years as affordable devices become more widely available and mobile broadband networks are deployed across Africa," the GSMA report states.

The GSMA further predicted that by 2020, four out of every five smartphone connections worldwide will come from the developing world.

According to the GSMA Intelligence report Asia Pacific today accounts for about half of global smartphone connections, even though smartphone penetration in the region is currently calculated at below 40%.

The Asia Pacific total is boosted by the inclusion of China, the world’s largest smartphone market, with more than 629 million smartphone connections, states the GSMA report.

Below is a list of the GSMA's top ten countries with the highest smartphone connections as of Q2 in 2014:

Country                                                  Smartphone connections (millions)

1. China                                                    629.2

2. United States of America                     196.8

3. Brazil                                                    141.8

4. India                                                      111.0

5. Indonesia                                              95.0

6. Russian Federation                              83.9

7. Japan                                                   66.1

8. Germany                                              48.5

9. United Kingdom                                    45.4

10. France                                               43.5