A lack of awareness and “must have” features have led to underwhelming demand for GenAI smartphones, according to the latest report from the International Data Corporation (IDC).
IDC Senior Research Director Nabila Popal said that “while GenAI continues to be a hot topic and top priority for many vendors, it is yet to impact demand significantly and drive early upgrades”.
“While we continue to believe GenAI will revolutionise the user experience in the years to come, more investments are needed to increase consumer awareness and introduce a ‘must have’ feature that will rush consumers to the store and create that super cycle which everyone is waiting for,” she said.
Popal predicts GenAI smartphones “will take their place in premium flagship devices and keep moving down in price tiers to rapidly grow to 70 per cent of the smartphone market by 2028”.
One new smartphone will be shipped for every 6.6 people on the planet in 2024, according to a new forecast.
IDC smartphone data 2024.
Meanwhile, the IDC predicts 1.24 billion new smartphones will be shipped in 2024, representing 6.2 per cent growth year-on-year.
“This strong growth follows two years of steep declines and is fuelled by pent-up demand for device upgrades,” it says.
Android growth of 7.6% year-on-year is focused in APeJC [Asia Pacific Excluding Japan and China], Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and China, “primarily in low end devices, is pivotal to the 6.2% growth this year”, the IDC says.
And the news for iOS? Not so good. Apple’s slice of the pie is forecast to grow by just 0.4 per cent in 2024. But this will grow in 2025.
“Despite record breaking performance in emerging markets like India, Apple faces challenges in large markets like China, US and Europe,” IDC says.
But it says in 2025 “the tide will turn as iOS is expected to grow by 3.1% year-over-year, outpacing Android’s forecasted 1.7% growth over the same period”.
“While 2024 marks a strong rebound, growth is expected to slow to low single digits from 2025 onward, with a 2.6% Combined Annual Growth Rate (2023-2028). Contributing factors include increasing smartphone penetration, lengthening refresh cycles, and headwinds from rapidly growing used smartphone market.”
