Worldwide shipments of devices such as PCs, tablets and mobile phones will total 2.2 billion units in 2019, a decline of 3.3% year over year, according to Gartner.
The mobile phone market is set to record the worst performance of these device types, declining by 3.8%. “The current mobile phone market of 1.7 billion units is around 10% below the 1.9 billion units reached in 2015,” said Ranjit Atwal, research director, Gartner. “If mobile phones don’t provide significant new utility, efficiency or experiences, users won’t upgrade them, and will consequently increase these devices’ life spans.”
The trend for lengthening mobile phone life span began in 2018 and will continue through 2019, said the analyst firm.
Gartner predicts that high-end phone life span will increase from 2.6 years to nearly 2.9 years through 2023. Gartner estimates that sales of smartphones will decline by 2.5% in 2019, which would be the worst decline ever.
Earlier this year, mobile operators launched 5G services in parts of the US, South Korea, Switzerland, Finland and the UK but it will take time for carriers to expand 5G coverage beyond major cities.
By 2020, Gartner estimates that seven% of global communications service providers will have a commercially viable wireless 5G service. This will mark significant progress from 5G proofs of concept and commercial network construction work in 2018.
In the first half of 2019, several phone manufacturers released 5G-enabled smartphones. To improve slowing smartphone sales, mobile manufacturers are looking to introduce more affordable 5G-enabled phones in 2020.
“In 2020, 5G-capable phones will represent 6% of total sales of phones. As 5G service coverage increases, user experience will improve and prices will decrease. The leap will occur in 2023 when we expect 5G phones to account for 51% of phone sales,” said Atwal.
Product managers should ensure high-end phones are differentiated by application integration with other devices, rather than relying just on 5G hardware evolution.
PC shipments are estimated to total 257 million units in 2019, a 1% decline from 2018. “PC providers are openly promoting the removal of Windows 7 end-of-life support at the beginning of 2020. This should force organisations to migrate to Windows 10 faster than they had anticipated,” said Atwal.
Gartner analysts maintain that 75% of the business PC installed base will have migrated to Windows 10 by the beginning of 2021. “Product managers need to continue promoting the end of Windows 7 support in 2020 as an incentive to migrate to Windows 10,” said Atwal.
