Next year is expected to be a divergent point in the sales of smart phones, ending the continuous wave of decline and decline during the last three years, which have not seen mobile phones for many years, to begin a new recovery cycle with the introduction of 5G phones, and the expected spread of networks and services Generation wide. The Chinese market is expected to lead global smartphone sales to 1.5% growth with 1.4 billion phones in the new year. The “center of gravity” of sales will move to medium and low-end phones, at the expense of premium phones, in response to the trend of the large segment of consumers to apply Value for money »Better for mid- and low-end phones.

This came in two recent reports on the performance of the global mobile phone market this year, and the expected performance for next year, issued recently by the two institutions «IDC» and «Gartner» international specialists in the research and consultancy of the IT market, and published on the newsrooms in the two companies.

Retreat

The Gartner report on the mobile market during the third quarter of this year, revealed that sales continued to decline for the 11th consecutive quarter since the beginning of 2017, falling by 0.4% compared to the third quarter of 2018, while demand remained weak, after Consumers are becoming more concerned about getting value for money.

Gartner's chief researcher, Anshul Gyupta, said that most smartphone users have shifted their desire to own the least expensive mid-range and low-end smartphones because, in their view, they offer better value for money, as opposed to expensive high-end phones. They do not see this equation, as a wide segment of users prefer to wait for 5G phones, and the spread of 5G networks, and therefore postpone purchase decisions until next year and beyond. This shift by users will make mobile phone manufacturers in the future increasingly focused on smarter, cheaper phones that offer personalized content and services that are more closely linked to AI and user preferences, Gyupta said.

Recovery cycle

The IDC report focused on the expected performance of the smart phone market next year. Analysts who prepared the report stressed that 2020 will be a sign of difference in the performance of that market in recent years, expecting the continuous decline to stop three years ago, to start a recovery cycle New, registering 1.5% year-on-year growth, with global shipments reaching 1.4 billion devices, including 190 million 5G smartphones, accounting for 14% of all smartphones expected to go on sale in the new year. Analysts pointed out that these figures are much higher than during the first year of the introduction of 4G smartphones, which accounted for only 1.3% of all smartphones shipped in 2010.

Ryan Reith, vice president of IDC's Global Mobile Tracking Program, said: “Recent developments in the Chinese market, coupled with the expectation of strong activity from the supply chain of smartphones and OEMs, are increasing the short-term outlook for the fifth generation. "There is no doubt that China will quickly become the market leader in terms of the size of the fifth generation, in addition to other important markets, such as the United States, South Korea, the United Kingdom and Canada, where these markets will expand sales volume in 2020."

price

"The right price is one of the key factors that will increase sales," Reith said. "It may even be the real story of optimistic sales forecasts. There will be a reduction in the price of 5G phones and also the services they are working on."

He explained that the expected rapid growth of the fifth generation in China, will be offset by a slightly slower growth in Australia, Japan, Korea and some European countries, continuing the slowing pace that appeared in these markets in 2019, which came a lot less than expected.

Android and iOS

The IDC report analyzed some of the important factors in the mobile phone market, such as operating systems, noting that the share of Android phones has risen to 86.6% since the beginning of this year, up from 85.1% last year.

The report attributed this to the launch of the fifth generation, and the growth in sales of products of major Chinese companies operating on a global scale.

For iOS devices, the report said it had seen a challenging year in 2019, with sales of iPhones that didn't offer 5G support.