Smartphone Sales Declined Again Last Quarter. 3 Takeaways for Investors

The fourth quarter's smartphone sales surge is over, at least according to data from technology market research outfit Gartner (NYSE: IT). Following Q4's worldwide shipment tally of 384.6 million units, this year's Q1 count of 378 million shipped smartphones marks a curiously timed contraction. Namely, despite a couple quarters of suppressed demand (and limited availability) for the first half of last year, sales of these mobile devices have already resumed a sales slowdown that first took shape in 2018.

No investor can afford to ignore the implications of the bigger trend. They also can't afford to look past the nuances of how the market's changing from within.

Gartner's figures aren't of sales to consumers, for the record. Rather they're estimates of how many smartphones various manufacturers shipped to retail distributors.

Source Fool.com