After growing steadily for years and years, global smartphone shipments began declining towards the end of 2017, continuing their free fall throughout 2018, as well as the first half of 2019. While the year-on-year drop reported in Q2 was not as bad as some of the industry's previous results, Gartner analysts don't expect the market to fully recover anytime soon due to sluggish 5G rollouts, lengthening replacement cycles, and Huawei's uncertain situation in the Western Hemisphere.
All these factors will lead to an overall 2.5 percent dip in worldwide smartphone sales this year, according to Gartner's latest forecast, less than 1 percent of which is likely to be made up of 5G-enabled devices. That's right, only 15 million or so units of a 1.5 billion+ total will support the next standard in cellular connectivity by the end of 2019, a number projected to start ramping up in the second half of 2020.
Coincidentally (or not), 2020's 1.56 billion global smartphone shipment tally is expected to surpass both 2019's estimated 1.51 billion and 2018's actual 1.55 billion unit counts, even though several key regions could still stay on a downward trajectory. We're talking primarily about North America and Latin America, while the Western Europe and Greater China areas are tipped to return to a healthy growth pace.
Before that can happen, however, smartphone sales in Western Europe are forecasted to drop by more than 5 percent this year compared to 2018, with North American numbers expected to register a 4.4 percent decline in 2019, followed by a significantly smaller 2020 downturn. That's mainly because the high-end segment is "particularly oversupplied and commoditized" in mature markets like the US or Japan, where "compelling new utility or experiences" are needed to convince users to upgrade their flagships faster. Enter 5G-powered "experiences", which are unfortunately available on a small scale in most global markets right now.
Grab Surfshark VPN now at more than 50% off and with 3 extra months for free!
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: