This year’s global smartphone market is expected to record its highest level of growth since 2015, with shipments expected to reach 1.36 billion units this year, up 7.7 percent from last year.
According to a report by IDC, the positive trend will continue next year and the expected year-on-year growth will be 3.8 percent. The total shipments proposed for this period were reported to be 1.43 billion units.
The report further said that as the world moves towards 5G networking and 5G enabled handsets, sales have declined due to strong demand for short and medium-range 4G smartphones following last year’s epidemic.
According to Anthony Scarsella, IDC’s director of research, “2021 will represent the largest year-over-year growth the market has witnessed since 2015, as the shift towards 5G across all price tiers continues to accelerate.
The 5G shift will also deliver peak smartphone ASPs in 2021 ($376, up 9.7% year over year) when compared to the remainder of the forecast period as costly 5G devices continue to replace LTE devices, which are also starting to drop in price, down 27% in 2021.”
According to Anthony Scarsella, IDC’s director of research, “Smartphones are seeing competition for consumer spending from adjacent markets like PCs, tablets, TVs, and smart home devices, yet that hasn’t slowed the market’s path to recovery.
The smartphone market returned to growth during the holiday quarter last year, and since then, we’ve only seen production from top suppliers ramp up. There continues to be a strong supply-side push toward 5G, and price points continue to drop as a result.”
