The Smartphone Sales Slowdown is Real (axios.com)

Earnings reports from Samsung and Qualcomm on Wednesday suggest a serious industrywide slowdown in smartphone sales. Samsung's report is especially telling, since it also makes displays and other components for Apple. From a report: The smartphone business is an incredibly crowded space, so a slowdown could lead to even steeper price competition. That's a potential short-term boon for consumers, but could put the hurt on a whole host of technology companies. Samsung's take: Its written outlook was terse and brief, but damning. Of its own phones, it said "[p]rofitability in the mobile business is expected to decline quarter-over-quarter due to stagnant sales of flagship models amid weak demand and an increase in marketing expenses to address the situation." Similarly, it cautioned of weak demand in its display and chip businesses, which supply components for both Samsung and its phone rivals, including Apple. Qualcomm's take: The phone chip giant also predicted a slowdown, cutting its forecast for 3G and 4G smartphones.

Comments

Re:Why should this be surprising?

[datavirtue]

People are also tired of the carrier/OEM relationship. It results in severely inflated carrier charges (2X) while stretching the phone costs over several years.

You can get an unlocked phone and use a T-Mobile reseller for less than half the price of the carrier/OEM lock-in model. The problem is that there are very few good unlocked phones and they are very difficult to research. It is a major barrier. I found the Huwaei phones which are great but you won't be able to get those in the US soon. These phones made it very simple. They are feature/spec parity with the flagship phones and are built very well. They work internationally and in the US.

No surprise they got banned. The two major carriers are very powerful in Washington DC.