Global smartphone sales rebound after prolonged slump

The global smartphone market has been contracting for 27 straight months but finally grew 5% year-on-year in October, a new report said.

Data from Counterpoint Research showed that numbers have improved thanks to a recovery in emerging markets such as the Middle East and Africa. Besides, Huawei has made a comeback in China, and Indian shoppers went a bit wild during their festive season.

Huawei released its Mate 60 Pro smartphone in September which sparked a lot of consumer interest due to its advanced chip.

“Another growth factor has been the late launch of the iPhone 15 series when compared to last year. The one-week delay this year meant the full effect of the new iPhone sales was felt in October,” the company said.

Global smartphone sales have been under stress for the last two years due to factors including component shortages, inventory build-up and lengthening of replacement cycles. These issues have been compounded by an uncertain macroeconomic environment.

Counterpoint Research said, though, that it expected the market to keep growing in Q4 2023 as well. The developed markets with relatively higher smartphone saturation have seen a slower recovery, it added.

Other analysts are also projecting that smartphone shipments will further grow in 2024 while Erik Woodring, an expert at an investment bank Morgan Stanley, says Apple is set to “win” 2024 if it successfully incorporates AI into its devices.

Specifically, Woodring is referring to Edge AI technology. It’s Morgan Stanley's fuzzily-defined label for what happens when AI stops being a ChatGPT-like app and instead is woven into all computing.

In essence, Edge AI is algorithms that are processed locally on a hardware device rather than relying on cloud servers. The approach significantly refuses response times and bandwidth usage, making it an attractive proposition for both consumers and businesses.

According to Morgan Stanley, even if Apple is saying so little about its AI development efforts that it’s presumed the tech giant has fallen behind, the company is actually further ahead in the field than it publicly states, and this can massively boost sales next year.