The global smartphone market is growing – There is a growth of 11.3% for the year 2015.
Smartphone orders for 2015 are expected to increase by 11.3%, which is down from the corresponding 27.6% for 2014, according to official data from IDC.
Although overall smartphone growth will continue to slow overall, many markets will see strong growth from 2015 onwards, with global order volume forecast to reach $1.9 billion annually by 2019.
Two notable milestones are expected to be reached in the smartphone, according to IDC:
- According to IDC forecasts, this will be the first year that the growth of the smartphone market in China, (which is also forecast to be 2.5% for 2015), will be lower than the global market.
- The growth of Android devices is also forecast to be smaller than the global market with a rate of around 8.5% for 2015.
- IDC believes that both of these trends will continue through 2019.
It is worth noting that Apple has also shown similar trends between 2012 and 2014, when growth rates were slightly lower than the global market. However, the recent recovery is due to the company's transition to products with larger screens and wider coverage in more countries, and it was natural and expected to have a direct impact on its order volume.
IDC predicts that the iOS market will follow an upward trajectory, and therefore will grow by a rate of 23% in 2015 and will remain above the growth rate of the global market until 2019.
