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Sluggish demand for smartphones to persist

new delhi - This is a first in the history of smartphones that the market has contracted year over year

After years of growth, the global smartphone market has hit stagnation and would experience an annual decline of a little over one per cent for the first time in 2018, Counterpoint Research has said.

According to Counterpoint's latest smartphone forecast report, smartphone growth will drop to a negative 1.3 per cent in 2018. This is a first in the history of smartphones that the market has contracted year over year.

The smartphone market has been experiencing negative growth since the fourth quarter of 2017 and the negative trend is expected to continue in the September quarter and upcoming December quarter as well.

"Many markets have already hit a saturation point for new smartphone demand and are dependent on replacement demand. However, since last year, consumers decided to trade up whenever they had the chance and are thus going for a better device, despite the price difference," said Tom Kang, research director, Counterpoint Research.

The weak demand was attributed to multiple factors - starting from the global economy slowing down and exchange rates in emerging markets fluctuating rapidly as in the case of Latin America.

"But at the core of the weak demand could be the change in consumer behaviour," the report added. - IANS