OS Data Overview

While the second quarter of 2020 (2Q20) resulted in slightly better than expected numbers, the market was still down year over year with visible signs of economic concerns in 2020Q2. The International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker forecasts worldwide smartphone shipments to decline 9.5% in 2020 to reach 1.242 billion units, down from 1.373 billion in 2019. The forecast follows the largest ever expected decline in the history. 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 1.492 billion units in 2024.



COVID-19 uncertainties continued to stress consumer buying confidence. 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 as 5G remains a priority for all smartphone OEMs despite the COVID-19 pandemic challenges & overall lower consumer demand. Several vendors have reduced their 2020 production plans to align with the market decline, though most of the cuts focused on their 4G portfolios. However, we still believe that consumer demand for 5G is very low globally and most of the push will be led by China.



From a geographic perspective, most of the regions, including developed like Europe & North America are hit hard from the COVID-19 with double-digit decline expected in 2020 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 production hurdles that appeared in the first quarter are dropping off as the market resumes operations with limited restrictions.



