Worldwide sales of smartphones decline for the first time since 2008

Worldwide sales of smartphones to end users declined 2% in 2019, the first time since 2008 that the global market for such phones experienced a decline, Gartner said.

But they are on track to reach 1.57 billion units in 2020, an increase of 3% year over year, the research and advisory company said. “2019 was a challenging year for smartphone vendors, primarily due to oversupply in the high-end sector in mature markets and longer replacement cycles overall,” Research vice-president at Gartner, Annette Zimmermann, said.