Worldwide, smartphone shipments are slowing “dramatically,” according to the latest report from Mary Meeker.
Presently a partner at Kleiner Perkins, the
famed soothsayer expects shipment growth to plummet from 28% in 2015 to just 10% this year.
Likewise, the growth of smartphone users will decline from 31% in 2015 to 21% this year, Meeker
predicts.
The forecast is obviously bad news for everyone from phone makers to platform providers, but some seem to be suffering more than others.
Among other losers, Meeker suspects
that Apple’s iPhone shipments peaked last year, and its best days are now in the rear-view mirror. On the bright side, domestic ad revenue grew by 20% last year, while growth due to mobile
reached 66%.
Stateside, Google and Facebook control 76% of the ad market, and Meeker only expects this share to increase in the future.
Despite its woes, Apple remains the most
valuable tech company, with a current market valuation of $547 billion.
Google (and its parent company Alphabet) come in second at $510 billion, followed by Amazon ($341 billion) and Facebook
($340 billion).
Globally, Android reigns as the dominant mobile operating system, with three times the audience of Apple’s iOS, according to Meeker. To be precise, Android's market share
is now 81% compared to iOS’ 16% share.
More broadly, Meeker expects global Web adoption rates to remain flat year-over-year at 9%. If accurate, the Web will reach about 3 billion people
or 42% of the world’s population, before the year is out.