Global smartphone market to shrink in 2019

Seoul, Jan 15: The global smartphone market is expected to shrink further in 2019 due to weaker demand and other unfavourable factors, a report said on Tuesday.

Global smartphone production is expected to reach 1.41 billion units this year, down 3.3 per cent from the previous year, according to the report from TrendForce, a leading market intelligence provider.

Replacement demand is likely to slacken this year due to a lack of devices with landmark functions, TrendForce said, adding global smartphone output could drop as much as 5 per cent on-year due to the uncertainty and fallout from the ongoing trade war between the US and China, Yonhap news agency reported.

Samsung Electronics Co is projected to grab the leading market share of 20 per cent this year, followed by Huawei with 16 per cent and Apple Inc with 13 per cent.

Among the top three industry players, Huawei will likely become the only company to post positive growth in smartphone production.

Samsung's smartphone output is predicted to shrink 8 per cent on-year to 293 million units, with Apple's production likely to fall 15 per cent to 189 million.

Earlier, another industry tracker, Strategy Analytics, predicted global smartphone shipments to come to 1.43 billion this year, down 0.6 per cent from a year earlier.

Strategy Analytics forecast a market share of 20.3 per cent for Samsung, 16.1 per cent for Huawei and 14.4 per cent for Apple.

TrendForce said Samsung will likely take a more aggressive strategy in terms of price and specifications as the company finds it hard to tap new business areas.

Samsung plans to roll out its Galaxy M mid-range and low-end smartphones in India at the end of this month and unveil its Galaxy S10 flagship smartphone and foldable smartphone in San Francisco next month in a bid to create new demand and outperform Chinese rivals.