Gartner: Worldwide Smartphone Sales decline for the first time

The Smartphone market has finally plateaued in growth, experiencing its first decline last year in Q4 2017, reports Gartner.

The research firm says this is a consequence of users picking more expensive/quality models (as is demonstrated with the iPhone X sales reports by Kantar) and keeping them longer, and the tendency for upgrading feature phone users to buy quality feature phones which have resurfaced as a market in recent times.

“Two main factors led to the fall in the fourth quarter of 2017,” said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. “First, upgrades from feature phones to smartphones have slowed down due to a lack of quality “ultra-low-cost” smartphones and users preferring to buy quality feature phones. Second, replacement smartphone users are choosing quality models and keeping them longer, lengthening the replacement cycle of smartphones. Moreover, while demand for high quality, 4G connectivity and better camera features remained strong, high expectations and few incremental benefits during replacement weakened smartphone sales.”

You can read the rest of Gartner’s report here.

With smartphone scales finally reaching a plateau, one wonders what Microsoft’s Surface Andromeda device will bring to the market that will differentiate it sufficiently from PCs, tablets or current phones.

As Build 2018 approaches, we suspect all will soon be revealed.