Due to the ongoing macroeconomic woes and geopolitical environment, smartphone shipments are expected to bounce back after last year's slide.

Global technology intelligence firm, ABI Research, said that although global smartphone shipments dropped 9.6% Year-over-Year (YoY) in 2022, the market is expected to see growth of 2.4% in 2023, reaching shipments of 1.24 billion worldwide.

In its new whitepaper, Recap of the Global Smartphone Market: Shipment Forecasts, Vendor Updates, 5G Success, and Regional Performance, ABI Research forecasts the global smartphone market to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 1.5% between 2023 and 2028 — surpassing 1.3 billion annual shipments by 2025.

"Arguably, the market effects of the pandemic are now overshadowed by geopolitical trade wars, macroeconomic headwinds, inflationary pressures, and supply chain issues that are set to become major impediments to the future development of the mobile devices market," said David McQueen, 5G Devices, Smartphones, and Wearables research director at ABI Research.

He noted, however, that despite this "challenging backdrop," smartphone demand is expected to be counterbalanced by 5G device affordability as a primary growth driver, notably in large fledgling markets such as India.

"It will be the industry's ability to strike a positive balance between the impact of disrupters against the gradual return of supply chains, consumer sentiment, and market confidence that will determine the speed of recovery and instigate a longer-term sustainable path," McQueen said.