Smartphone sales to rise just three per cent in 2020, but slowdown in 2021 - Gartner

Worldwide sales to grow in 2020 following two per cent decline in 2019

Worldwide smartphone sales are set to rise by three per cent in 2020 following a small decline in 2019. But sales growth will slow, once again, in 2021.

That's according to the box counters at Gartner, who claim that smartphone sales worldwide will increase from 1.52 billion in 2019 to 1.57 billion in 2020. However, that recovery will slow in 2021, with sale increasing by just 1.1 per cent to 1.59 billion.

In 2020, the market is expected to rebound with the introduction of 5G network coverage in more countries

Gartner research vice president Annette Zimmermann described 2019 as "a challenging year for smartphone vendors". She claimed that this was "primarily due to over-supply in the high-end sector in mature markets and longer replacement cycles overall".

^{Worldwide smartphone sales/sales forecasts. Source: Gartner}

She continued: "However, in 2020, the market is expected to rebound with the introduction of 5G network coverage in more countries and as users who may have delayed their smartphone purchases until 2020 in expectation of price reductions begin buying again."

In particular, Apple's release of its first 5G devices is expected to drive demand at the premium end of the market, as well as upgraded cameras across Apple, Samsung, Huawei and Nokia devices, among others.

The epicentre of the market will remain Greater China and ‘emerging' Asia/Pacific, which will account for 432.3 million and 376.8 million device sales, respectively. As such, the Asia/Pacific region (including China) will account for more than half of global sales.