Smartphone Market Share

OS Data Overview

The worldwide smartphone market continued to suffer amid pandemic uncertainties in 2020. The International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker forecasts worldwide smartphone shipments to decline 11.9% in 2020 to reach 1.208 billion units, down from 1.372 billion in 2019. The forecast follows the largest year-over-year decline in history in the first quarter of 2020 (1Q20). IDC expect the market to return to grow in 2021 mostly sped up by the 5G devices launches picking up from the damage of the pandemic. In the long-term forecast, IDC expects the overall smartphone market to reach 1.479 billion units in 2024.

The crisis has overall affected consumer buying confidence, varying the impact more towards the demand than supply side in the recent past. The consumers are being more cautious and have narrowed the spend to essentials only. This is thought to be relieved partly by 5G push expected from the smartphone value chain. IDC expects 5G shipment to pick up from late 2020, usually led by shipments in China.

From a geographic perspective, Europe has hit hard from the COVID-19. The pressure in the region will reflect higher on severely affected countries like Italy & Spain with the overall double-digit decline in 2020 in the region, yet IDC expects the top vendors to maintain the market shares driven by rotating strategies such as higher flagship launches and forming stronger ecommerce footprints. The Chinese economy will continue to be impacted by COVID-19, though the supply chain disruption in the region seems to ease a bit. The production hurdles that appeared in the first quarter are dropping off as the market resumes operations with limited travel and logistic restrictions.

IDC expects both Android and iOS to take the hit in 2020 as the macroeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect consumer spending. Android’s smartphone share is expected to hover around 86% with a slight increase throughout the forecast. In 2020, Android volumes are estimated to drop to 12.6% YoY to reach 1.031 billion while iOS is expected to reach 177 million down 7.6% YoY.