GLOBAL smartphone shipments have declined since the third quarter of 2018, resulting in a loss of 360 million unshipped units.
Market researcher Strategy Analytics calls this drawback a recession, citing decreased carrier subsidies, poor replacement time and lack of design innovation.
Samsung still holds the top spot, with a market share of 20 percent, but it was 13 percent less than last year’s performance. Samsung’s strongest competitor, Huawei, has seen a 32-percent increase, shipping 52 million smartphones for the third quarter. Apple comes in third, with a shipment of 46.9 million smartphones and a 13-percent market share. The company’s constant increase in price may have affected its volume growth. Xiaomi comes in at fourth place, with a 9.2-percent market share, while Oppo is close behind with a market share of 8.7 percent. As you may have noted, the second, fourth and fifth biggest brands are all from China.
The decrease in smartphone shipments has not resulted in a decrease of our addiction to using them.
Across all age groups, Americans have been noted to view their phone on an average of 52 times a day, according to the Global Mobile Consumer Survey. Increased smartphone usage is largely due to the accessibility and ease of use these handheld devices provide its users. With information at the palm of your hand, working, communicating, socializing, or entertaining is available at the touch of a button. Of course, cellular phone dependency is not just limited to America, but is easily observed in the rest of the world as well.
The main reason people are not buying phones is that most owners who need one already have one, and if there are no compelling features, people do not want to upgrade.
The most awaited smartphone feature is 5G, with most users dubbing it as a very important feature. Fifth-generation technology will provide enhanced speed, coverage and responsiveness of wireless networks. Imagine downloading an entire season of Game of Thrones in just a few seconds. That’s how fast 5G’s cellular connection is envisioned to become.
Other than speed, 5G also offers lower latency--defined as the response time between clicking on a link and the network’s response. With 5G, latency will be reduced from 20 milliseconds to just one millisecond. Responsiveness between the user and the responding network is used in the areas of virtual reality, high-definition video gaming, and even medical robotics. A lag-free connection ensures that even our closed-circuit TVs and self-driving cars can be operated in real-time. With 5G, users can now be connected to multiple devices, hastening the possibility of the Internet-of-things.
Most rollouts will be by 2020, although Verizon and AT&T think they can do it by next year. Unfortunately, you will need to get a new 5G smartphone in order to benefit from it.