Smartphone shipments are forecast to increase 5.8 percent in 2024 to 1.23 billion units, the latest IDC report said.
Smartphone shipments achieved 12 percent growth in the first quarter, and 9 percent rise in the second quarter.
Affordable Google Android smartphones are growing rapidly in China and emerging markets. Premium smartphone markets are starting to embrace GenAI smartphones, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
“The growth for Google Android this year will be nine times faster at 7.1 percent than iOS at 0.8 percent. Apple’s softer growth is a result of increasing competition in China but also a higher comparison base year,” said Nabila Popal, senior research director with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
IDC expects the iOS trajectory to improve in 2025 with 4 percent growth thanks to Apple Intelligence, which is creating a lot of excitement and is expected to gain momentum next year and encourage faster upgrades.
GenAI smartphones will be capturing 18 percent share of the total market by end of 2024, as most flagships will adopt some on-device GenAI features.
“GenAI-capable devices won’t come cheap, as the average selling price for these GenAI smartphones will be more than double the cost of non-GenAI capable devices, further driving the premiumization trend,” said Anthony Scarsella, research director with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
