Smartphones sales rise to USD 522 bln in 2018, although demand falls 3%

Global smartphone sales were worth USD 522 billion in 2018, although demand for smartphones fell in the year by 3 percent, to 1.44 billion units sold, according to the latest study from GfK. Smartphones make up the majority of total spend on the global TCG (technical consumer goods) market, which was worth a total of USD 1.2 trillion in 2018.
 
For the year, about 12 percent of smartphones sold were worth over USD 800, compared to 9 percent the year before. The mid-segment of USD 150-400 accounted for 46 percent of smartphones sold globally in 2018, from 44 percent in 2017.
 
For the fourth quarter, about 375 million smartphones were sold, a decline of 7 percent. The sales value amounted to USD 1.44 billion. ASP (average selling prices) for the quarter declined 2 percent, to an average of USD 384.
 
The Chinese market consumed most of the global smartphone production in the year. For the fourth quarter, demand declined by 19 percent. This was only partially offset by continued demand in Emerging Asia (+13%) and Central & Eastern Europe (+3%). In 2018, 40 percent of China smartphone brands were purchased outside of China, from 31 percent in 2016.
 
Core wearables remained on a strong growth path in 2018, with year-on-year demand up 16 percent and sales value up 35 percent. Demand was driven by the rise of Sim-enabled smartwatches which represent the majority of sales value within the core wearables category. Sim-enabled smartwatches made up 17 percent of core wearables sales value, from 8 percent in 2017.

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