NEWTON, Mass.—Credit unions may not be under the same pressure they have been to update solutions for mobile platforms, as a new analysis suggests consumers will not continue to turn in their smartphones for newer models at the rate they have in the past.
Data from Strategy Analytics shows the global smartphone market fell 9% in the final quarter of the year, the biggest fall in smartphone history, with even Apple's iPhone sales down 1% as users hang on to their phones longer, reported The Guardian.
“For Apple, which is shipping five million fewer smartphones than a year ago, the decline is offset by an increase in the average sale price of its iPhone, thanks to the popularity of its iPhone X. But as Samsung and others join Apple in pushing the top end of the market to higher prices the demand for new phones appears to be waning,” The Guardian stated.
Strategy Analytics data show global smartphone shipments shrank year-on-year from 438.7 million to 400.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2017.
“It was the biggest annual fall in smartphone history. The shrinkage in global smartphone shipments was caused by a collapse in the huge China market, where demand fell 16% annually due to longer replacement rates, fewer operator subsidies and a general lack of ‘wow models,’” said “Linda Sui, director at Strategy Analytics.