More than half of the 2 billion smartphones that will be sold worldwide in 2019 will be 4G devices, according to the latest market forecasts from CCS Insight.
The analyst firm predicts that the total mobile phones market will reach 2.35 billion in 2019, up from 2.07 billion this year. 2 billion of the total will be smartphones, versus 1.48 billion in 2015, and 1.29 billion smartphones will be 4G-enabled, up from 670 million.
However, from 2017 onwards, the growth will come from markets outside of Western Europe and North America.
"Unless we see a major new disruption similar to the one prompted by the iPhone’s arrival in 2007, we expect smartphone sales in Western Europe and North America to slowly decline after 2017," said Jasdeep Badyal, smart devices and pricing analyst at CCS Insight, in a statement.
The analyst firm highlighted the lack of innovation in the smartphone space compared with new device types, such as tablets, smartwatches, and virtual reality headsets, which are increasingly competing for a share of consumers’ wallets.
"That’s one reason why having the latest and greatest phone isn’t as important as it once was," said Badyal.
"For many people in Europe and North America, a midrange smartphone with a reasonable camera, a nice large screen and decent battery life is now good enough," he added.
