IDC: The smartphone market will recover growth this year, expected 1.5 billion phones will be sold

Over the past few years, the growth of the smartphone market has begun to slow down. However, market analysis firm IDC thinks that 2017 will be a prosperous year of this market.

According to IDC, the mobile phone market will grow 4.2% in 2017, which is nearly double compared to 2.5% in 2016 (this is the lowest level in the past few years). The company also predicts the Compounded Annual Growth rate of the mobile market over the period 2016-2021 to be 3.8%. In 2017, the number of shipped phones is estimated at 1.53 billion units and by 2021 will be 1.77 billion units.

Ryan Reith, vice president of IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers, said the shift in the low-cost segment was the main reason for the recovery of the overall mobile market. He said:

'When you enter the market, many different trends occur. In some strong markets for cheap phones like China, we see users starting to buy more advanced devices. Previously, low-income people were satisfied with the devices they owned but now they have a need for better features on the product. In developed markets, the high-end segment has more fierce competition than ever. This is clearly reflected in the products introduced at MWC 2017 '.

Anthony Scarsella, an IDC manager, predicts the growth of the phablet market will average 9.2% between 2016-2021. In 2021, fewer than 680 million phablets will be sold.

Speaking of platforms, Android will continue to dominate as OEMs enter developing markets with competitively priced products. Phones with screens of 5 inches or larger will account for about 91 percent of the Android smartphone market by 2021 - according to IDC, OEMs have now figured out how to produce large-screen smartphones at a cost. short.

IDC predicts 2017 is a "turning point" for the iPhone with a growth rate of 4.9% (compared to 2016). Apple devices will continue to focus on the Chinese market with an expected growth rate of 36% in 2021.

Windows Phone will continue to decline. IDC said that in 2017, Microsoft's ecosystem will continue to decline to 69.5%, equivalent to only about 1.8 million devices sold in the market.

Reference: Neowin