Smartphone Shipments Declined For the First Time In 2017 (theverge.com)

2017 was the first year that smartphone unit shipments didn't grow, according to a new Internet Trends report. "Shipments actually declined by 0.5 percent, as IDC noted in February," reports The Verge. "In 2016, shipments were lukewarm at 2 percent yearly growth, but this downturn is significant." From the report: Among smartphone shipments, Android and iOS have all but completely pushed out every other mobile operating system. And despite the growing price of today's top flagship devices, the average selling price of a smartphone has steadily fallen over the years. As more of the world now owns smartphones, growth has basically stalled. Similarly, internet user growth has only grown 7 percent in 2017, compared to 12 percent in 2016. More people are accessing the internet than ever, on an average of 5.9 hours a day. And they're browsing on mobile, indicating that they're just holding onto older models of phones instead of buying new ones.

Comments

Missing a big factor

[Anonymous Coward]

Smartphone shipments haven't gone down. Android shipments have gone down. iPhone shipments have gone up (50.7m to 52.2m YoY).

Average selling price hasn't gone down. Android average selling price has gone down. iPhone average selling price has gone up ($655 to $728 YoY).

There's a story here, but it's not the one being told by the headline.

It's called "A Maturing Market"

[knorthern knight]

1) At the beginning, item X (desktop PC, flatscreen TV, smartphone, whatever) is damn expensive and almost nobody except rich hipsters has one.

2) As R&D costs are amortized and production lines ramp up, prices drop, more people can afford item X, and sales increase.

3) Then really cheap Chinese knockoffs appear, and sales really take off.

4) Eventually, everybody that wants one, and can afford one, has one. At that point sales drop down to replacement levels for older ones that wear out, fall on the floor, are stolen, whatever.

A few years ago there was hoopla about "the end of the desktop PC". The PC market hasn't disappeared; it's matured and sales have stabilized at replacement levels. I expect the same to happen for smartphones.