Shipments of smartphones globally decreased by 5% in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. Over the whole year, sales declined by more than 12% compared to 2019.
The analyst firm, Gartner, has released new data which shows that global smartphone sales declined 5.4% in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. In the full year of 2020, smartphones declined by a larger 12.5% overall compared to the previous year. The main driver of the decline was Huawei, which has been impeded by various sanctions by the United States. The reasons for the slowdown in growth are numerous, aside from the economic squeeze felt by consumers as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and Huawei being hit by sanctions, people have also been holding off on new purchases until they can secure themselves a device that is compatible with new 5G networks that are coming online and boast faster download speeds.
