Why the smartphone market will grow less than expected? – CanalAR

  IDC
 

 
  June 2, 2016
 
 

IDC lowered its forecast for this year and pointed to the slowdown in mature markets and changes in user habits

 

 IDC readjusted its forecast for the smartphone market and further down their expectations for this year.

According to a new report, the analyst now expects smartphones to grow by 3.1% in 2016 , 2.6 percentage points below its last forecast in March (5.7 %). Stagnation is getting stronger, warns.

Specifically, IDC predicts that 1.48 billion devices sold this year. While the market continues to rise, the numbers show a sharp slowdown from growth of 10.5% in 2015 and 27.8% in 2014.

The key is, once again, in the United States, China and Western Europe. The slowdown in major markets is shrinking sales in both premium equipment such as iPhone or Samsung Galaxy not renewed as quickly. The life cycle is extended and the consumption habits of the user will also change with the advancement of electronic commerce.

“Consumers are getting smarter about how and where they buy their smartphones, and this is opening new doors for manufacturers and making some traditional channels lose some control of hardware flow “said Ryan Reith , vice president of IDC Worldwide Quarterly Tracker.

“smart phones sold in eTailer channels (via Internet) grew 65% in 2015 and is expected to account for about 12% of sales in 2016, compared to only 4% in 2013. consumers are taking more power to decide which brands they want and, at the same time are better able to negotiate. “

According to IDC, the new players in the market will be phablets (devices 5.5-inch screens or more), which will have a double-digit growth until 2019, and then falling to 9.2% in 2020. the boom of multimedia content is one of the keys to power this segment.

More information: www.idc.com

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