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Smartphone shipments are expected to grow 21 percent this year to 224 million, according to the latest forecasts from ABI Research (News - Alert). But what's driving all that growth may not be the phones you expect - or have even heard of.

ABI's Vice president of forecasting, Jake Saunders, said yeah yeah, of course the latest iPhone (News - Alert) or Android phones will grab the publicity, but that white box, or "Shanzai" handset manufacturers, are "reshaping the low-cost handset segment as they redefine the look and feel of the low-cost, ultra-low-cost segments."

And speaking of Android phones, TMC's (News - Alert) Raju Shanbhag has reported that the mCUE product line from D2 Technologies "now supports the Skype's SkypeKit SDK. With the help of mCUE, OEMs and ODMs can "quickly and inexpensively" release Android (News - Alert) OS-based devices to market.

SkypeKit, Shanbhag wrote, "is a collection of software and APIs that allows Internet-connected devices or applications to offer Skype (News - Alert) voice and video calls. SkypeKit is designed to work with a wide variety of chip sets, operating systems, and audio/video devices." 

You might have seen some of these low-cost handset "brands," such as the "BlueBerry." Okay, that sails pretty close to trademark infringement, as ABI officials say: "These handsets have very localized distribution, lack the full functions of the originals, and cater to end-users who, while they may not have deep pockets, do aspire to be smartphone users."

It's definitely not a penny-ante business, though. These limited-function handsets, along with other low-cost models, will rack up 219 million sales in 2010.

Hey, it's growth: After four quarters of decline, the global mobile handset market has shown signs of rebound starting in 4Q 2009, ABI found, with an expectation of further growth in 2010. "Total shipments of mobile handsets are projected to hit 1.3 billion in 2010, and are forecast to surpass 1.7 billion in 2015," says industry analyst Celia Bo. "Moving to 3G technologies and beyond, increasing demand for smartphones is a key factor that will drive market expansion over the next five years."