Smartphones are popular. Once a luxury for residents in developed nations only, the mobile device now garner high demand across most of the world.
Even better for all of us, consumers have the luxury of choosing from multiple feature-rich smartphones, which also have the potential to last even longer than older models.
There were 310.8 million smartphones shipped during the first quarter of 2019, a 6.6% year-over-year decline, and the sixth consecutive quarter slide, according to the IDC research group. Samsung controls 23% of the smartphone market, ahead of Huawei (19%), Apple (11.7%), and Xiaomi (8%) – besides Huawei’s significant 50.3% year-over-year growth, all the other established major manufacturers took a beating.
Late last month, I published a blog covering the possibility of smartphones reaching a natural tipping point due to mature market saturation.
“The less than stellar first quarter in the United States can be attributed to the continued slowdown we are witnessing at the high end of the market. Consumers continue to hold on to their phones longer than before as newer higher priced models offer little incentive to shell out top dollar to upgrade. Moreover, the pending arrival of 5G handsets could have consumers waiting until both the networks and devices are ready for prime time in 2020.”
Anthony Scarsella, research manager with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker
