Global shipments of mobile phones are forecast to grow 1.47 percent to 1.77 billion units next year, from 1.75 billion units this year, on the back of 5G-enabled smartphones, US market research firm Gartner Inc said in a report on Wednesday.
The 5G smartphones would see shipments pick up speed next year to represent 6 percent of overall handset shipments, as telecoms have launched 5G services in several countries, such as the US, South Korea, Switzerland, Finland and the UK, Gartner said.
An estimated 7 percent of global communications service providers would have commercially viable wireless 5G services by next year, it said.
“The leap will occur in 2023, when we expect 5G phones to account for 51 percent of phone sales,” Gartner research director Ranjit Atwal said in the report, adding that smartphone prices would drop as 5G service coverage increases.
Nonetheless, global shipments of mobile phones are expected to decline by 3.75 percent to 1.75 billion units this year, from 1.81 billion units last year, or 10 percent if compared with shipments of 1.9 billion units in 2015, he said.
As the average life span of high-end smartphones is predicted to increase from 2.6 years to nearly 2.9 years by 2023, mobile phone vendors must pay attention to the importance of improving the user experience and providing new features, he added.
As for PCs, global shipments are expected to decline by 1.04 percent annually this year due to market uncertainties, despite an annual growth of 1.5 percent last quarter, Gartner said.
PC shipments are expected to reach 257 million units, down from 259.7 million units last year, the market researcher said.
“The ongoing trade dispute between the US and China — and the potential imposition of tariffs — are likely to impact the PC market this year,” Atwal said.
After a boost from Microsoft Corp’s Windows 10 migration for corporate users last quarter, Gartner estimated that 75 percent of the installed base of business PCs would have completed migration by 2021.
Product managers still need to continue promoting the end of Windows 7 support to drive the migration, Atwal said.
Overall, global shipments of PCs, tablets and mobile phones are forecast to decline 3.3 percent annually to 2.2 billion units this year, Gartner said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last