When it comes to looking at the global smartphone market, Counterpoint Analysts is always a good place to start. Now industry watchers have them Forecasts for the coming year have been released – which should give only limited hope to those responsible.
According to statistics, the global smartphone sales will increase in 2023, but only by 2 percent. The direction is correct, but after the epidemic recovery phase in 2021, manufacturers had to take a significant setback this year.
The latest forecast is revised from an earlier forecast of six percent growth in 2023 as “macroeconomic headwinds and consumer weakness” will continue to weigh on the smartphone sector.
Counterpoint expects the smartphone market to continue to underperform through H1 2023 and start growing only from Q3 2023.
That’s what an expert says
Counterpoint VP Peter Richardson says he knows why:
Persistent inflation, expectations of future interest rate hikes, declining corporate profits, the Chinese economy, the protracted war between Ukraine and Russia, political unrest in Europe and sweeping new US export controls on China are all helping the smartphone market forecast. Revised below. OEMs that focus on the premium segment, which is more resilient than the low-to-mid segment, are better positioned. To address these issues because they have deep technical expertise and diverse business units capable of weathering the storm.
5G and foldables will drive the industry
Counterpoint predicts “healthy growth” for the 5G device market through 2024. Network operators will be proactive for 5G, and many markets already have substantial incentives for customers to switch to the new wireless technology.
According to analysts, new form factors like foldable smartphones will also drive premium smartphone growth. “As more OEMs enter the foldable segment, the prices of these devices will stabilize and the foldable segment will gain importance with the 5G segment,” it concluded. Samsung recently predicted a mainstream future for foldables.
