The firm predicts that smartphone sales globally will grow by 7% this year, a drop from 14.4% last year
Gartner has predicted that global smartphone sales will continue to slow down and will no longer grow in double digits. The firm has stated that smartphone sales worldwide is expected to grow at 7% in 2016, to reach 1.5 billion units. By comparison, global smartphone growth last year was 14.4%. It also expects smartphone sales to reach a total of 1.9 billion units by 2020.
In its report, Gartner notes that the smartphone market has reached 90% penetration in mature markets and users in these regions are not replacing or upgrading their smartphone as often. Ansul Gupta, research director at Gartner says, “In the mature markets, premium phone users are extending life cycles to 2.5 years, which is not going to change drastically over the next five years.” The report also notes that since mature markets are saturated, many smartphone vendors have started targeting the Indian and Chinese markets. Gartner estimates that 139 million smartphones will be sold in India in 2016, with a growth rate of 29.5% year-over-year. It also states that the average selling price of mobile phones in India will remain under $70 (approx. Rs. 4,700). Further,smartphones under $120 (approx. Rs. 10,700) will continue to contribute around 50% to overall smartphone sales in India in 2016.
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