Smartphone shipments to decline in 2019; 5G to have 26 percent market share by 2023

While smartphone prices are shooting up year by year, the sales have been on a constant decline. Since 2017 there has been a downward trajectory for smartphone shipments and this year is not going to be any different. [caption id=“attachment_4837531” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Representational Image[/caption] A report by IDC has stated that shipments will dip by 0.8 percent this year to 1.39 billion with 4G smartphones occupying 95.4 percent share, 3G occupying 4.1 percent share and 5G getting a 0.5 percent share. However, things should pick up, as the report states that by 2023 the year-on-year growth for total smartphone shipments will increase to 1.7 percent. “The biggest question that remains unanswered is what will bring the smartphone industry back to growth,” said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. **5G** has been the talk of the industry for some time now and the IDC report has indicated that by 2023 5G smartphones are expected to have 23.9 percent market share globally. Sangeetika Srivastava, senior research analyst with IDC said that “Though the 5G developments and foldable screen buzz is yet to have a reality check from users, 2019 will be surely marked as a year of modernization in the smartphone market.” The report estimates that a massive 1.541 billion smartphones could be sold in 2023 with the majority still being 4G. However, the year-on-year growth for 4G smartphones will decline by 4.4 percent in 2023. Samsung and Apple have been witnessing a decline in shipments while Chinese rivals Xiaomi and Huawei are rising through the ranks and could potentially rule the market in the coming years.