According to a new forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC), Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker shows signs of market recovery in the second half of 2019 and into 2020, hinting at the smartphone shipment growth.
As per the report, IDC expects shipment volumes to be nearly flat (-0.4%) in the second half of 2019 while the market declines 2.2% year over year for the full year, making 2019 the third straight year of global contraction. But, in the year 2020, IDC expects shipment growth to reach 1.6 percent.
It says that a ray of hope has arrived for the smartphone world in the form of 5G. Since the commercial deployments have begun in many regions, 2020 looks to be the year where 5G begins to ramp up. IDC expects 5G shipments to reach 8.9 percent of smartphones shipped in 2020, accounting for 123.5 million devices shipped. This is expected to grow to 28.1 percent by 2023.
The report says that Android‘s smartphone share will increase to 87.0 percent in 2019 from 85.1 percent in 2018 mostly due to 5G launches and expedited inventory cleanup of older devices. Volumes are expected to grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.7 percent with shipments of 1.3 billion in 2023.
If further adds that this year will remain a challenging one for Apple’s iPhone shipments with volumes expected to drop to 177.9 million, down 14.8 percent year over year. This is mostly being attributed to market maturity as well as a lack of 5G devices. Apple is expected to launch 5G smartphones next year.
