China to account for 24% of smartphone shipments
Total smartphone shipments are expected to reach 1.5 billion units this year, representing a 5.7% compared to 2015, according to a report from IDC. The research firm said total smartphone shipments hit 1.44 billion units last year, climbing 10.4% compared to the previous year.
According to the report, the global smartphone market will experience single-digit-growth until 2020, when the market is expected to see volume growing to 1.92 billion devices. IDC also noted the smartphone market will continue to see volumes shifting to the low end with the aggregate market average selling price dropping from $295 in 2015 to $237 in 2020.
IBB Consulting senior partner Jefferson Wang calls this the “good enough” smartphone segment, which he discussed with RCR Wireless News during Mobile World Congress 2016.
The IDC study also revealed mature markets like the U.S, China and Western Europe experienced single-digit-growth in 2015, while high-growth market including India, Indonesia, the Middle East and Africa and certain markets in Southeast Asia experienced a high level of growth last year.
“The mature market slowdown has some grave consequences for Apple, as well as the high-end Android space, as these were the markets that absorbed the majority of the premium handsets that shipped over the past five years,” said Ryan Reith, program director with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
IDC’s report also forecasts Android shipments will grow from 1.17 billion units last year to 1.62 billion in 2020, and its share of the smartphone industry will grow from 81% to 85%. Apple shipped a total of 231.5 million devices in 2015, an increase of 20.2% year-on-year. IDC estimates iOS shipments will reach 269 million devices by 2020. Meanwhile, Windows Phone’s shipments were down 18% in 2015 to 11.1 million units.
China is forecast to account for 29% of total smartphone shipments this year. In 2020, the Asian market is forecasted to represent 24% of global smartphone shipments.
GSA creates new global spectrum group
The Global Mobile Suppliers Association agreed to form a global spectrum group to contribute to international and national spectrum work with the aim to participate in the ITU World Radiocommunication Conferences. The GSA Spectrum Group will operate in all regions around the world mirroring closely the ITU-R organization structure.
GSA’s Executive Committee includes Ericsson, Huawei, Intel, Nokia and Qualcomm.
“The GSA Executive Committee recognizes that spectrum discussions are of growing importance to the whole mobile industry, and indeed to broadband consumers,” said GSA president Joe Barrett. “Harmonizing the use of global and regional spectrum removes uncertainty and encourages growth while new spectrum needs to be identified to meet the anticipated future mobile broadband capacity demands for new ‘5G’ services and use cases. The GSG will do vital work leading up to WRC-19 and will comprise of some 45 spectrum and regulatory experts from our executive and member companies.”
