The smartphone market is booming: at the end of the third quarter 2017 have been placed on the market other 373 millions of devices, with an increase in the 3 shipments per cent compared to the previous year. According to IDC, Samsung continues to dominate the scene, with more than 83 million pieces shipped (+ 9,5 per cent on an annual basis), followed as usual by Apple, which introduces millions of new phones into the 47 market ( + 2,6 percent), behind the Chinese giant Huawei, with its 39 million pieces and a significant + 16 percent on the 2016. A healthy market, which has to satisfy an ever-increasing demand for new smart phones by an ever-expanding number of consumers, year after year. Last year, 1,5 billions of new smartphones were sold for 2,1 billion users. This year we are already 2,32 billion, next year we will be 2,53 billion according to Statist calculations, while 2020 billion users are expected in 2,9. Another great battle is between operating systems, a strategic terrain where two great giants collide: Google's Android and Apple's iOS. In June, 2017 Google's operating system controlled 87 percent of the market, Apple's 12,1 percent. Earnings were also excellent, with a slight but steady increase in sales: from the 330 billion of the 2013 we went to the 434 billion of the past year, and then to those expected for the end of the 2017 that should reach according to Statist almost 480 billion of dollars all over the world.
A scenario that according to a new ABI Research study seems to be destined to change and even a lot in the coming years. The Report "Mobile Ecosystem Leaders and Laggards in the Post-Smartphone Era" tells about a mobile phone industry probably at its peak and that thanks to digital transformation will find a new path. The market will see the new demand for services, more personalized, more attractive, more engaging and immersive, which need more interactive interfaces, new generation, the result of the convergence of voice, gestures, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and virtual, 3D. A new era, "post smartphone", where count will be the patents portfolios, spending on research, development and innovation, acquisitions and mergers, open source, the degree of development of technologies enabling digital transformation and more. In this ever-changing industry, according to ABI Research researchers, market leaders will be Google and Amazon, which will drive innovation in the mobile ecosystem over the next ten years, while Apple will slide back. "We are at the beginning of a new wave of innovation in the smart device ecosystem, which will be driven by Google and Amazon, thanks to their strength in the main growth sectors, in particular IT, which will allow a more flexible approach to user experiences that are essential for creating immersive experience and human-machine interaction, "said David McQueen, ABI Research's Research Director. "Without the heavy burden of legacy systems and hardware, these web giants are in a good position to drive the market to the post-smartphone era."
What could decree this new structure of the market is explained in the document, which highlights how at the moment there are those, including Apple, Samsung, Microsoft and Huawei, instead of investing more in innovation tend to be pleased with the position reached ("some signs of complacency in the sector ", what analysts at the time called" end of the Jobs effect "). That Apple may fall down in the race to the leadership of the smartphone market today is difficult even to imagine, because we are still talking about a very powerful brand, as well as Microsoft on the other hand. Suffice it to say that Apple earns well 1.444 dollars per second, in a nice ranking made by Visually, Google (which is hidden behind Alphabet) 616 dollars and Microsoft 531 dollars. In this future scenario (but not too far) outlined by ABI Research, whoever will know how to identify the technology segment where to invest more in innovation, but who will spend more on training and new technological skills and basic techniques, who will realize the new intelligent device able to easily and satisfactorily interact with the new digital technologies.
Nova source