Total smartphone shipments are forecast to grow by 4% in 2016 to 1.49 billion units after jumping by 13% to 1.43 billion in 2015, according to IC Insights. Moreover, smartphone shipments are forecast to grow by 5% in 2017 reaching 1.565 billion units. Overall, smartphone unit shipments are forecast to grow at single-digit annual rates through 2020, said the research firm.
Smartphones accounted for over 50% of total quarterly handset shipments for the first time ever in the first quarter of 2013. Smartphone shipments fell to 340 million units in the first quarter of 2016 yet still represented 80% of total handsets shipped during the quarter, the same penetration as in fourth-quarter 2015, IC Insights said.
Smartphone shipments for the fourth quarter of 2016 are expected to reach a new record high of 437 million and represent 84% of all handsets shipped during the quarter, IC Insights indicated. On an annual basis, smartphones first surpassed the 50% penetration level in 2013 (54%) and are forecast to represent 97% of total handset shipments in 2020.
In contrast to smartphones, total handset shipments are forecast to decline by 2% in 2016 and drop by 1% in 2017, according to IC Insights. Non-smartphone handset sales, which declined by 30% in 2015, are forecast to fall another 22% in 2016. Moreover, IC Insights expects the 2017 non-smartphone handset unit shipment decline to be steeper than 2016's drop with a decline of 26%. |