NOMADIC LIFESTYLE
NOMADIC LIFESTYLE Premium-price smartphones keep mobile on the move Smartphones sales up 3% in 2018; smartwatch market shows solid gains; growth predicted for VR/AR headsets. © Messe Berlin GmbH. New findings on the global telecom market released by GfK at IFA 2018 show that the smartphone remains the key personal device in the sophisticated ecosystem that is the mobile phone industry. In the first half of 2018 a total of 693.5 million smartphones were sold globally totalling €215.3bn, an increase of 3% compared PRODUCT FEATURES ARE IMPORTANT ENABLERS TO DELIVER USER EXPERIENCES with the same period in 2017. According to data collected and analysed by GfK, consumers are clearly leaning towards premium devices, resulting in an increase in the average selling price by 4%. “Product features are important enablers to deliver user experiences. The sophistication of handsets announced for this year clearly shows the effort invested to push the boundaries of smartphone capabilities to the limits. These features and applications are constantly evolving with technological innovation, component availability and price affordability,” Igor Richter, GfK telecoms expert, says. “Screen sizes and cameras with high resolution are underpinning the visual experiences enabled by multi-core processors and large internal storage. Nearly two thirds of all smartphones sold today are already full HD- or 4K videoenabled.” This is positioning the smartphone even more as the personal device for gaming, or for highdefinition entertainment in music and video, he says. “With 5G devices on the horizon these experiences will become even richer for multi-player applications or sharing of content.” The demand for smartphones has stabilised in unit terms, but the mobile phone industry is buoyed by the trend towards premium devices. While consumers may tend to be prolonging life cycles, keeping smartphones for longer, they are also willing to pay premium as long they see improved features and other benefits. The research also shows that while the two traditional retail channels – Telecom Retailers and Consumer Electronics shops – remain the most influential channels for the telecom market internationally, online sales accounted for 15%of all sales in the first half of 2018. This is a slight increase of two percentage points compared with the first half of 2017. Developing countries are having a strong influence: Asia, including India and the Chinese market, accounts for nearly 41% of all smartphone purchases internationally in the first half of 2018 SMARTWATCHES ARE HERE TO STAY Worldwide shipments of wearable devices are on track to grow 15.1% in 2018, totalling 132.9 million units over the course of the year. The overall market is also expected to deliver a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.4% over the next five years, culminating in 219.4 million units shipped in 2022, according to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker. With cellular connectivity on the rise and shifting consumer preferences, IDC believes smartwatches will account for almost two out of every five wearable devices shipped in 2022. “At present, fitness users lead by a mile but mobile payments and messaging are starting to catch on,” says Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for IDC Mobile Device Trackers. “The addition of cellular connectivity is also starting to resonate with early adopters and looking ahead the emergence of new use cases like music streaming or additional health sensors will make cellular connectivity pivotal to the success of the smartwatch” © Messe Berlin GmbH. DEMAND UP FOR AR/VR HEADSETS Worldwide shipments for AR and VR headsets will grow to 68.9 million units in 2022 with a fiveyear compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 52.5%, according to the latest forecast from the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Augmented and Virtual Reality Headset Tracker. Despite the weakness the market experienced in 2017, IDC anticipates a return to growth in 2018 with total combined AR/VR volumes reaching 12.4 million units, marking a yearover-year increase of 48.5% as new vendors, new-use cases, and new business models emerge. The worldwide AR/ VR headset market retreated in 2017 primarily due to a decline in shipments of screenless VR viewers. Looking ahead, IDC expects the VR headset market to rebound in 2018 as new devices such as Facebook’s Oculus Go, HTC’s Vive Pro and Lenovo’s Mirage Solo ship into the market with new capabilities and new price points © Messe Berlin GmbH. www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Friday 31 st August 2018 49
