IDC Downgrades Its Global Smartphone Forecast Due to Slowdown in China

IDC downgraded its 2015 forecast on global smartphone shipments and now expects shipments to climb 10.4 percent this year to 1.44 billion units, the research firm said in a Tuesday report. IDC previously forecast 11.3 percent growth for 2015, but now expects to see “a noticeable slowdown” in smartphone shipments “as China joins North America and Western Europe in a more mature growth pattern,” it said. “However, steadily falling average selling prices will fuel steady growth through the end of the forecast period, with global shipments reaching 1.9 billion units in 2019.” Though China “remains the focal point of the global smartphone market,” its performance hasn’t been “as positive as in previous years,” IDC said. Shipments there are projected to grow only 1.2 percent this year, compared with nearly 20 percent growth in 2014, it said. Though China will remain the world’s largest smartphone market through 2019, its share of the overall market is expected to drop to 23.1 percent in 2019 from 32.3 percent in 2014, it said.