It used to be said that when the US sneezes, the whole world catches a cold: for personal tech, the same applies to Apple. Fears over the ailing health of the smartphone market has sent shivers around suppliers; shares in chipmakers fell this week as a result.
But really, what did investors expect? Western markets have reached peak smartphone, with telecoms executives bemoaning a lack of innovation that stretches back several years. The once vaunted “super cycle” of phone upgrades on the back of Apple’s iPhone X is, somewhat inevitably, super dead.
The UK saw an 11 per cent decline in sales over the past year, according to GfK this week. A year ago, demand was at an all-time high. This trend is spreading. Globally, sales fell 2 per cent in the first quarter. Shipments in China suffered the biggest ever decline.