Global smartphone shipments are down by -1.1% Y-o-Y (or up by 2.9% Q-o-Q) to 368.8 million units, IDC reports, as 2019 volumes drop to levels below annual shipment levels between 2015 and 2018.

"The full-year decline in 2019 represents the 3rd consecutive year of falling shipments despite the launch of 5G devices and new innovative handsets such as foldables,” the analyst remarks. "Although the overall market dropped once again in 2019, Q4 proved successful for some of the top players such as Apple, Xiaomi, and Oppo, largely due to new models but also shifting focus away from China. Both Xiaomi and Oppo performed well in India and are starting to gain traction in W. Europe in a similar fashion to Huawei a few years ago. Apple performed well domestically as its market share broke fifty percent in Q4 2019. Looking forward, 5G handsets-- and to be more precise, affordable 5G handsets-- will need to be the big catalyst in 2020 to avoid 3 consecutive years of decline."

According to IDC, global tablet shipments are down by -0.6% Y-o-Y to 43.5 million units in Q4 2019, while full year 2019 shipments total 144m units, a -1.5% decline in comparison to the previous year.

The IDC numbers include traditional slate tablets and hybrid devices with detachable keyboards. They show Apple remains not only in the lead in Q4 2019, but also seeing 22.7% Y-o-Y growth thanks to the new iPad launch. In fact, the latest iPad accounts for nearly 65% of shipments for the quarter, and helped the company gain 36.5% share, compared to the 29.6% of the previous year. That said, as Apple moves more towards detachables, slate tablet shipments are at an all-time low with a -79.3% decline.

According to Gartner, global smartphone sales are to reach 1.57 billion units in 2020, a 3% increase over 2019. Last year smartphone sales saw a -2% decline, the first since 2008.

“2019 was a challenging year for smartphone vendors, primarily due to oversupply in the high-end sector in mature markets and longer replacement cycles overall,” the analyst says. “However, in 2020, the market is expected to rebound with the introduction of 5G network coverage in more countries and as users who may have delayed their smartphone purchases until 2020 in expectation of price reductions begin buying again.”

Global shipments of devices-- PCs, tablets and mobile phones-- are set to total 2.16 billion units in 2020, Gartner reports, a "slight recovery" of 0.9% over 2019 shipments reaching 2.15bn units.

One driver for such improvement is the increased availability of 5G smartphones. In fact, the analyst predicts the global mobile phone market will grow by 1.7% in 2020, if thanks to Greater China and emerging markets in Asia/Pacific. 5G models should account for 12% of 2020 mobile phone shipments, before reaching 43% in 2022 as prices decrease, 5G coverage increases and customers have better experience with such devices.