After 'worst year ever' for smartphone shipments, more pain could be on the way: IDC

Last year was the "worst year ever" for smartphone shipments, according to research firm IDC, which said Wednesday that holiday-quarter volume tumbled 4.9% from a year earlier. For the full year, shipments fell 4.1%, to 1.4 billion units. Chinese smartphone shipments fell 10% over the course of 2018, the firm said. "With challenging market conditions continuing into the first quarter of 2019, the likelihood of a declining market this year becomes more of a reality," the firm said in a release. IDC Program Vice President Ryan Reith called the global smartphone industry "a mess right now" and said he "did not see a lot of positive activity in 2018." Reith blamed elongating upgrade cycles, increased smartphone penetration, economic uncertainty, and "growing consumer frustration" around rising prices for the negative trend last year. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. took the top position in terms of market share, with 70.4 units shipped during the quarter, while Apple Inc. ranked second, with 68.4 units. The IDC report comes a day after Apple posted its holiday-quarter results. The company, which no longer discloses unit sales, reported revenue in line with its downbeat preannouncement from earlier in January. Apple also issued a March-quarter outlook that came in below the FactSet consensus. Apple shares are up 4.9% in Wednesday trading, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average , of which Apple is a component, is up 1.6%.

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