Smartphone Shipments Flat For the First Time, Says IDC

An anonymous reader writes: Smartphone vendors shipped a total of 334.9 million smartphones worldwide last quarter. This figure is up just 0.2 percent from the 334.3 million units in Q1 2015, marking the smallest year-over-year growth on record. We saw hints of this in yesterday's Apple earnings report, when the company reported an iPhone sales drop for the first time. Despite the poor state of the worldwide smartphone market, Samsung continues to dominate. In Q1 2016, the South Korean company once again shipped more smartphones than any other vendor.

Comments

Reached good enough.

[LWATCDR]

I don't need to replace my MotoX at all. It runs the latest version of the OS and works well.

Re:Reached good enough.

[npslider]

I feel the same about my iPhone 6. My hands are smaller, so a bigger device is too hard to use one handed. Further refinements to the software are always something I look forward to, but at its core, the phone does all I need it to do. The only reason I would upgrade is if my phone was lost or damaged beyond repair.

Re:Reached good enough.

[OzPeter]

I don't need to replace my MotoX at all. It runs the latest version of the OS and works well.

My original RAZR still runs the latest software for that platform and also works quite well at making phone calls!

Re:Reached good enough.

[butchersong]

Yep. My one plus is still going strong as well. If I bothered to use cases and treat the phone better I'd probably only need to update my phone every 3 years. As it is, wear and tear are the reasons I tend to upgrade. More often that not its the damn micro usb port. Hopefully the type c connectors will be much more durable.

Re:Reached good enough.

[Matheus]

PS. I have difficulty feeling any sympathy for an industry that shipped 1/3 Billion units last year. I'm sorry you can't sustain growth indefinitely but you're selling plenty of product to make lots and lots of money. Fuck off.

Re:Reached good enough.

[ljw1004]

My $75 smartphone isn't "good enough" - it's fine for most apps and phone tasks, but is too slow at complex webpages (usually because of ads, specifically video ads).

I wonder if there's still market opportunity for budget smartphones?

Re:Reached good enough.

[JanneM]

[...]it's fine for most apps and phone tasks, but is too slow at complex webpages (usually because of ads, specifically video ads).

Install an adblocker. Free, unlike getting a new phone, and it'll help your monthly data usage as well.

That's because most phones are good enough.

[XxtraLarGe]

I had an iPhone 4 for 4 years (oddly never experienced the reception problem), then upgraded to an iPhone 6 Plus. I'll probably have that one for 4 years as well. It makes phone calls, sends email, browses the web, lets me play games or read books during down time. Newer features such as pressure sensitive screens or "live" photos, 3D photos, or being able to pour a bottle of champagne on them aren't really killer features. Mostly they strike me as gimmicks that don't give me an overwhelming desire to upgrade.

Re:That's because most phones are good enough.

[Locke2005]

I call that a "porn web site thumbnail".

Waiting for vendors to get real

[WillAffleckUW]

Why should I shell out $500 every year when I can just wait until they have something that is a real improvement in three years?

And that fits in my fricking pocketses!

Re:Waiting for vendors to get real

[captaindomon]

I have to say, I'm happy that Apple seems to be indicating with the iPhone SE that they are going to continue manufacturing small but smart devices. I think we're coming to the end of the "size wars" in smartphones. At some point it just doesn't make sense.

Re: "Poor State"...???

[Anonymous Coward]

Despite the poor state of the worldwide smartphone market

What the fucking fuck?????

Doing a quick Google shows that total worldwide sales of phones averaged more than 300 million units per quarter in 2014 and 2015. Adding in the sales for the first quarter of this year, that's roughly 2.7 Billion phones since the beginning of 2014.

Too much is never enough.

Re:I've never had one.

[Anonymous Coward]

My landline phone does everything I need a phone to do. My computer does computer stuff. I see no need to mix the two.

Funny you should mention that. A few days ago I saw an ad on television for Amazon's Fire phone. It shows a man and woman sitting on the couch in their living room, trying to decide what movie to watch on their phone.

Wait . . . what?

Yes, I'm old. And yes, I have actually told people to get off my lawn. But I have a 55 inch television in my living room, a 27 inch monitor on the computer I'm currently using to type this (a computer which is also quite a bit more powerful and capable than your phone or your tablet), and a 16 inch screen on my laptop (which is also quite a bit more powerful and capable than your phone or your tablet).

In what bizaarro, ass-backwards universe do I want to watch a movie on a phone. With a 5 inch screen.

After 30 years of massive improvements in technology, we are now actually going backwards. Hundreds of millions of people rushing out to buy devices that are LESS capable.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Re:I've never had one.

[inode_buddha]

Marry me?

Re:Product Maturity

[MightyMartian]

My Nexus 5, now over two years old, works fine, and still works with the latest version of Android. It did have an issue with reporting the SIM card missing, but it turned out all I needed to do was take the case off and just re-insert the SIM card, so to my great relief I didn't have to buy a new phone.

My daughter needs a new phone, so I'll probably end up getting a new one for Christmas this year, and gift mine to her. I did that with my iPhone 4, and it is just now that the phone is starting to have some hardware issues.

Re:I've never had one.

[MightyMartian]

I use mine as a router when I'm out of town. Generally the quality of hotel WiFi is so terrible that I end up tethering. I have an SSH and RDP client on my phone, not pleasant to use, but in an emergency when I have to talk to the office servers, it will do. It's a damned handy device.

Re:Product Maturity

[MightyMartian]

As low a creature as I am, at least I'm not an AC

Re:Samsung

[magarity]

The new Samsung phones that are tied to AT&T/Verizon have been made to refuse booting when rooted.
For that reason alone, I've decided not to upgrade my phone.

For this reason alone, I decided to upgrade my phone... when I left Verizon for TMobile, whose phones don't seem to have a problem with installing alternates such as cyanogenmod.

Re:I've never had one.

[tepples]

My landline phone does everything I need a phone to do.

Including arrange a ride home after the city buses have stopped running for the night or weekend, if you happen to be where a payphone used to be?