Smartphone market
Development of the smartphone market
There were more than 8.8 billion mobile contracts worldwide at the end of 2025, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report published in November 2025. This is a year-on-year increase of 2%.
Likewise, the number of smartphone contracts continues to grow. At the end of 2025, they accounted for around 84% of all mobile contracts, amounting to more than 7.4 billion – an increase of 3.9% compared to the previous year. According to estimates in the Ericsson Mobility Report, this number is expected to increase by a further 2% annually over the coming years, reaching 8.5 billion smartphone contracts by 2031.
In an environment of economic uncertainty dominated by trade tensions between the US and China, volatile tariff rates and continued reliance on partially unreliable supply chains, global smartphone sales still rose by 1.9% to 1.26 billion devices in 2025, according to data published in mid-January 2026 by the market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC).
In a previous report from early December 2025, IDC had already noted that global smartphone sales in 2025 were mixed, fluctuating between declining demand – particularly in the more price-sensitive low-end segment – and recovery. The upturn was particularly evident in the premium segment, where the latest models persuaded consumers to make a purchase, partly thanks to the integration of AI and foldable devices.
Global sales figures for foldable smartphones are expected to have risen by 10% to 20.6 million devices in 2025. It is anticipated that several new product launches could even boost this growth to 30% in 2026. Overall, while foldable smartphones remain a niche segment in terms of sales volumes, average annual growth of 17% is expected by 2029.
Although short-term forecasts have improved, IDC has revised its growth forecast for 2026 downwards from 1.2% to 0.9%. This is due to a combination of component shortages and changes in product life cycles.
In autumn 2025, Gartner estimated that global spending on smartphones with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) was expected to reach USD 298.2 billion by the end of 2025, representing 20% of total end-user spending on AI in 2025. Spending on GenAI smartphones is expected to rise by 32% to USD 393.3 billion by 2026, as all manufacturers increasingly integrate AI into their devices and users adopt it more widely. Gartner forecasts that all high-end smartphones will be equipped with GenAI capabilities by 2029.