EMEA Smartphone Demand 'Continues to Lose Steam,' Says IDC Report

Smartphone demand in Europe, the Middle East and Africa "continues to lose steam," said IDC Wednesday. Though the Q2 shipments of 44.9 million phones in the total EMEA market were only "marginally lower" than in Q2 a year earlier, "in the core European Union market the picture was less promising," said IDC. Most countries in Western Europe had lower smartphone value than in the same quarter of 2017, "though the picture was mixed, as France and Italy showed an increase," it said. One area for optimism among smartphone OEMs "was that European consumers are moving quickly to embrace wider screens," said IDC. "This is a reflection of how much video they are now watching on their devices." Nearly all Android smartphones sold in the EU a year ago were 16:9, but by Q2 this year, that declined to just over half, it said: "The categories growing fast are 18:9 and 18.5:9," with screens up to 19.5:9 "appearing on some models," it said.