Relative and absolute components of leapfrogging in mobile phones by developing countries

•New measure of leapfrogging.•Includes relative and absolute components.•Provides ranking of countries.•Suggests possible U-shaped curve.

This paper suggests a novel way of measuring the important concept of leapfrogging in mobile phones. It argues that an adequate measure of leapfrogging needs to include absolute as well as relative components. The new measure is used to measure the performance of around 60 developing countries and offers an explanation of the results.