New Delhi: Global smartphone sales are likely to grow at a lower rate of 11.3 percent this year as compared to 27.6 percent in 2014, impacted by a slower pace of growth in the Chinese market, research firm IDC said Wednesday.
While the overall growth will continue to slow, many markets, especially India, will experience robust growth in 2015 and beyond with global shipment volumes forecast to reach 1.9 billion units annually by 2019, IDC said.
According to IDC, 1.44 billion smartphones are expected to be shipped globally in 2015.
"Smartphone shipments are expected to grow 11.3 percent in 2015, which is down from 27.6 percent in 2014... This to be the first year in which China's smartphone growth, forecast to be 2.5 percent in 2015, will be slower than the worldwide market," IDC said.
Second, Android smartphone growth is also expected to be slower than the worldwide market at 8.5 percent and both trends will persist throughout till 2019, it added.
"Smartphone volume still has a lot of opportunity in the years to come, but two fundamental segments driving recent years' growth are starting to slow," IDC Program Director Ryan Reith said.
As Chinese OEMs (original equipment makers) shift their focus from the domestic market to the next high-growth markets, they will face a number of challenges, including competition from 'local' brands, he added.
As per IDC estimates, China's share of smartphone shipment is expected to come down to 23.88 percent in 2019 from 29.73 million.
Similarly, the US market's share is forecast to contract to 9.49 percent in 2019 from 11.81 percent in 2015.
However, India's share is estimated to grow from 7.61 percent in 2015 to 13.29 percent in 2019, IDC said.
