Smartphone growth in US slowed by almost half in 2015: Report

Days after the news that Apple sold fewer iPhones for the first time ever in the first quarter this year, a new report says that smartphones in the US posted half the growth in 2015 when compared to the previous year.

The number of reported smartphones in the US last year grew to 228 million from 208 million in 2014 -- an increase of 9.6 percent, thestreet.com reported quoting the industry organisation CTIA-The Wireless Association.

The 2015 growth rate is nearly half the 18.9 percent from the year before, the report added.

"As your denominator gets larger, your growth rate gets smaller," Robert Roche, CTIA's vice president of research public affairs, said in a statement.

Angelo Zino, an analyst covering Apple at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said Apple can increase sales domestically by improving their gadgets.

News reports of Apple possibly switching its iPhone display from LCD displays to OLED screen displays can also boost sales, Zino added.

Hit by slower growth in the sale of its flagship products iPhone, iPad and Mac globally, Apple's revenue dropped for the first time since 2003 as the tech giant released earning reports for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 in March.

Eevenue was down in both Americas and China -- Apple's two biggest territories. It declined around 10 percent in the Americas and 26 percent in China.

According to reports, the company is looking for new growth markets like India.

--IANS

sku/na/dg