Coming off of the first year-over-year decline in iPhone shipments in 2016, Apple returned to growth in 2017 albeit only 0.2%, according to IDC. The tech giant shipped 215.8 million iPhones in 2017 with 64% of those coming from “plus-size” smartphones such as the iPhone X.
IDC says the shift to bigger, more expensive devices has allowed Apple to continue to grow its average sales prices (ASPs) while facing the challenges of growing its shipment volumes. The research group expects iPhone shipments to grow 3.7% to 223.8 million units in 2018 and reaching 242.4 million in 2022. Overall iPhone volumes are expected to grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.4%.
“Apple will continue to experience challenges breaking into some of the remaining high-growth developing markets, but there is no question they are far from being pushed out of the premium market segment,” writes IDC.”Apple continues to build out its device upgrade program, a move IDC believes could be a catalyst to support growth over the next five years.”
