Smartphone Sales to Fall
Worldwide sales growth for smartphones is slowing down, thanks to maturing markets, but remains strong, according to International Data Corp.’s quarterly mobile phone tracking report. The market intelligence forecaster expects global smartphone shipments to grow 10.4 percent in 2015 to 1.44 billion units, down from 27.5 percent growth in 2014. IDC had previously forecast 11.3 percent year-over-year growth for 2015.
The firm attributed the downturn to China joining North America and Western Europe in a “more mature growth pattern,” which is to say the market is getting saturated. Shipments to the region are expected to grow just 1.2 percent year over year, compared with 19.7 percent in 2014.
