Smartphone sales are growing more slowly than ever before

The age of the smartphone could be coming to a close, researchers have found. According to a new forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC ), 2015 will be the first full year of single-digit worldwide growth for the smartphone industry. IDC predicts worldwide smartphone shipments will grow 9.8% in 2015 to a total of 1.43 billion units. ‘With the smartphone market finally slowing to single-digit growth, maintaining momentum will depend on several factors,’ said Ryan Reith of IDC ‘The main driver has been and will continue to be the success of low-cost smartphones in emerging markets. ‘This, in turn, will depend on capturing value-oriented first-time smartphone buyers as well as replacement buyers. ‘We believe that, in a number of high-growth markets, replacement cycles will be less than the typical two-year rate, mainly because the components that comprise a sub-$100 smartphone simply do not have the ability to survive two years. ‘Offering products that appeal to both types of buyers at a suitable price point will be crucial to maintaining growth and vendor success.’ The slower growth is expected to intensify slightly over the 2015-2019 forecast period and is largely attributed to lower shipment forecasts for Windows Phone as well as ‘alternative platforms’ (phones running operating systems other than Android, iOS, and Windows Phone).