IDC: 1.5 Billion Smartphones Will Be Sold In 2016

Figures from IDC suggest 1.5 billion smartphones will be shipped in 2016 – a 5.7 percent increase on 2015 – and will reach 1.92 billion by 2020

Phablet devices with displays larger than six inches will account for a third of all shipments by the end of the decade, according to analysts, and unsurprisingly the majority will run Android.

On the rise

DC predicts that Android shipments will grow from 1.17 billion in 2015 to 1.62 billion in 2020, pushing the company’s share of the smartphone industry from 81 percent to 85 percent.

Although 2015 proved to be an extremely successful year for Apple, as its iPhone 6S and 6S Plus set new sales records for the company, IDC believes 2016 will be relatively flat year in terms of iOS sales

iPhone shipments hit a new record of 231.5 million in 2015, a 20.2 percent increase over 2014, and nearly double that of the overall smartphone market. But despite this year looking a bit glum for Apple, IDC predicts that growth should return in 2017 and beyond, as the company’s trade-in programs expand into markets outside of North America and help drive churn.

Elsewhere, Windows Phone shipments were down 18 percent over the course of 2015 at 11.1 million units, with roughly 95 percent of this originating from Microsoft (or Nokia) branded devices.

IDC is predicting that the platform’s shipments will continue to decline from its current 1.6 percent market share, estimating that by 2020 Windows Phone will only make up 0.9 percent of the worldwide shipments, despite many observers believing that the upcoming launch of Windows 10 Mobile will serve to reinvigorate the platform.

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