FRAMINGHAM, Mass.—Is the mobile phone boom petering out?
New data indicates that might be the case.
The growth in global smartphone shipments ground to a near halt this year, according to research firm International Data Corp, which shared that companies will ship a record 1.45 billion smartphones in 2016.
“That is an annual growth rate of less than 1%, down sharply from 10.4% last year and 47% as recently as 2012,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
One reason for the growth slowdown, according to the Journal, is that U.S. wireless carriers have moved away from offering discounted smartphones to lure customers. That has resulted in mobile phone owners becoming much more aware of what the phone is worth and aren't switching so fast, the Journal stated.