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2018 Was the 'Worst Year Ever' For Smartphone Shipments (cnbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

2018 was the worst year ever for smartphone shipments, according to the latest figures from research firm IDC. It means Apple isn't the only company fighting to keep people interested in buying new phones every year. From a report: IDC said 1.4 billion smartphones were sold in 2018, marking a 4.1 percent decline for the year in an industry that's accustomed to rapid growth. In 2014, as well, 1.4 billion phones were shipped, which means the industry seems to have regressed about 5 years. Shipments shrank 4.9 percent for the fourth quarter of 2018, IDC said. Apple said earlier this week that iPhone revenues were 15 percent lower than last year. CEO Tim Cook said the strengthened dollar, an economic slowdown in China, lower subsidies on phones and its battery replacement program contributed to the drop in sales. Samsung phone shipments declined 5.5 percent and Apple's slipped 11.5 percent during the quarter, IDC said. But Huawei, which was able to capitalize on China, saw a 33.6 percent bump in shipments. Chinese vendors Oppo and Xiaomi also increased shipments, IDC said.

5 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. Well their batteries keep dying. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't want to buy a new phone because they're not worth the cost. They keep breaking and their batteries die. Why would I keep spending money on these hyped up pieces of garbage that surveill me?

    1. Re:Well their batteries keep dying. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Exactly. The old phone is still working, and the new ones aren't much better. A few more megapixels or an extra camera does not justify a new phone.

      And they are all like. They just cannot innovate. Same form factor, nearly same hw. Nobody has anything extra the others doesn't have. E-paper anyone? DAB-radio? Slide-out keyboard? Nope, they are all the same - and the same as the last 4 years.

      Perhaps those folding screens will be interesting, replacing phone & tablet with a single device. Unless they break easily. But they are not around yet, so . . .

    2. Re: Well their batteries keep dying. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They are actually getting worse! Notches? No headphone jack? No SD card? Glued batteries?
      They can shove those 'flagship' pieces of junk back where they pulled them out from!

  2. Why is this bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Smartphone tech has matured, so we dont need to upgrade every year or two year. This is a good thing. Why is every shit news site pumping out story after story on this. Is it a really a bad thing when we can consume less and save more?

  3. Re: 1754 was not very good either ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, edit a document on a phone. Show me. And I don't mean cut&paste - write a few paragraphs of text.

    A home need only one 'computer', not a computer per person. Because light games & browsing is now done on phones & tablets. That computer is still needed whenever writing more than a tweet or two is called for. Therefore, computer sales are down - but the computer is in no way 'dead'. Stuppid salesmen tend to call anything 'dead' that isn't growing though - according to such people, 'food' is dead. Except it isn't - food sell as much as ever, and employ lots of people. But of course no increase.