全球智能手机出货量首次下滑 Global smartphone sales fall for first time

Global smartphone shipments fell for the first time as “iPhone fatigue” dragged down sales for Apple’s once-unstoppable franchise amid a general weakening in the market for new devices.

After close to a decade of stellar growth, analysts say a tipping point in the smartphone market has been reached as most people already have a phone, phablet or tablet device.

Applepopularised the smartphone market with the launch of the first iPhone in 2007. The US group said this week that it had suffered a 16 per cent fall in unit sales in the first quarter and warned that the next quarter could be even worse, bringing to an end the company’s remarkable period of growth.

“Apple is facing iPhone fatigue and pressure is mounting for Apple to innovate a new wow design beyond its standard rectangle form factor,” according to Strategy Analytics, the market research group.

Apple was not totally to blame, however, as global smartphone shipments fell 3 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 to 334.6m, down from 345m units in the same quarter of 2015. The quarter was the “first time ever since the modern smartphone market began in 1996 that global shipments have shrunk on an annualised basis”.

Strategy Analytics also pointed to the increasing maturity of major markets such as China, which is the biggest country for smartphone sales in the world, and consumer caution about the world economy.

Strategy Analytics said that Samsunghad shipped 79m smartphones in the first quarter, a 4 per cent fall from 82.7m in the same period last year, but remained the biggest in the market with a 24 per cent share for the quarter.

Samsung’s latest Galaxy S7 flagship has at least supported sales for the South Korean group, with a strong start for a device that has met with favourable reviews. LGand Sonyalso reported weak smartphone sales.

Of the three biggest smartphone makers, only Huawei, the Chinese telecoms technology group, showed any growth. Huawei remains the third largest smartphone maker with an 8 per cent share of global shipments, up from 5 per cent a year ago, following a 64 per cent growth in sales in the past year.

A number of lesser known companies are now also gaining market share, with Oppo, a cheaper brand popular in Asia, shipping 15.5m smartphones in the period to take fourth place.

The data from Strategy Analytics were countered by similar research from IDC, which found a slight rise in global shipments from 334.3m to 334.9m.

However, the IDC data showed the smallest year-on-year growth on record, suggesting that the trend is the same even if the numbers are slightly different.

“As the China market matures, the appetite for smartphones has slowed dramatically as the explosion of uptake has passed its peak,” IDC said.

全球智能手机的出货量出现首次下滑。在市场对新手机需求普遍减弱之际，“iPhone疲劳”拖累了一度势不可挡的苹果(Apple)主打产品的销售。

分析师表示，在经过近十年的出色增长之后，由于多数人已经拥有了一部手机、手机平板或平板电脑，智能手机市场已达到一个转折点。

苹果在2007年推出首款iPhone，催生了智能手机市场的高人气。就在本周，这家美国集团表示第一季度销量遭遇了16%的下滑，并警告下一季度情况可能会更糟糕，从而终结了该公司非同寻常的增长期。

根据市场研究集团Strategy Analytics的说法：“苹果正面临iPhone疲劳。苹果受到越来越大的压力，要求它创造出突破标准的矩形外形的令人惊叹的新设计。”

不过，也不能把出货量下降全部归咎于苹果，2016年第一季度全球智能手机出货量下降3%，至3.346亿部，低于2015年同一季度的3.45亿部。该季度是“自1996年现代智能手机市场诞生以来，全球出货量首次出现同比收缩”。

Strategy Analytics还指出，中国等主要市场日益成熟，消费者对全球经济也十分谨慎。目前，中国是全球智能手机销量最高的国家。

Strategy Analytics表示，今年第一季度三星(Samsung)的出货量为7900万部，比去年同期的8270万部低了4%。不过，三星依然是市场老大，占该季度市场份额的24%。

三星最新的旗舰产品Galaxy S7至少撑住了这家韩国集团的销售，这款受到好评的手机开局十分强劲。LG和索尼(Sony)报告智能手机销售疲弱。

在三大智能手机制造商中，只有中国电信业高科技集团华为(Huawei)显示了增长。华为依然是全球第三大智能手机制造商，其占全球出货量8%的份额超过了一年前的5%。华为在过去一年里销量增长了64%。

还有多家知名度较弱的企业也在赢得市场份额。在同一时期内，亚洲很受欢迎的较廉价品牌Oppo智能手机出货量为1550万部，居市场第四。

Strategy Analytics的数据与IDC的类似研究存在出入，后者发现全球出货量略有增长，从3.343亿部增至3.349亿部。

不过，IDC的数据显示了有记录以来最低的同比增幅。这意味着尽管具体数字略有不同，但IDE得出的趋势是一样的。

IDC表示：“随着中国市场趋于成熟，在爆炸式购买浪潮的顶峰期过了之后，对智能手机的购买意愿已急剧放缓。”

译者/简易