Are smartphone sales slowing down? We might have peaked already if IDC’s latest research is anything to go by.
Is the end in sight for the smartphone? Is out affair with the mobile OS over? Are we all done with upgrading? It is and we are according to the type of analysts the phone-fear-mongering Daily Mail like to listen to.
In a forecast produced by ‘premier global provider of market intelligence’ firm IDC, sales of the beloved smart-centre of nearly everyone’s universe are set to start slowing this very year, seeing shipments fall sharply and continuing to flounder until at least 2018.
Figures thrown about in the report state that annual growth of smartphone sales in 2014 is expected to reach 19.3 per cent before beginning the painful decline to just 6.2 per cent in 2018 – an almost boom-bust scenario that follows on from last year’s 39.2 per cent jump which saw smartphone shipments top one billion units for the very first time.
It seems the analysts at IDC say this decline is of our own doing, the consumer, and they are pointing the finger at owner-apathy in that, so sick of having to constantly upgrade to bigger and better smartphone models, we’re just going to stop bothering and learn to be happy with what we have.
Seemingly aware of our oncoming indifference, mobile manufacturers are turning their attention to China where the smartphone market is still steeply on the up as the country makes the move up from basic feature phones to the promised-land of smart.
“2014 will be an enormous transition year for the smartphone market,” says Ryan Reith of IDC. “Not only will growth decline more than ever before, but the driving forces behind smartphone adoption are changing.”
Bleak… but don’t worry, future smartphones! Despite what IDC says Recombu will still love you and upgrade with every new option!
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