rssmobility

Worldwide Used Smartphone Forecast Update, 2025-2029

Ramon T. Llamas — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Presentation analyzes the emerging used smartphone market, including shipments, average selling prices, and value by each of the major global regions. It also includes a comparison against our forecast from a year ago.

"Used smartphones are slowly establishing themselves as acceptable alternatives to new smartphones. The primary driver of this is clear: price. Average selling prices for used smartphones were 30% lower than those for their new counterparts. Additionally, most smartphones can still function beyond the ownership of its first user, allowing secondary users to enjoy some of the most popular features with software updates.” — Research Director Ramon T. Llamas, Mobile Phones team, IDC

Turning the Tables on Scams: Malwarebytes Teams with ChatGPT to Arm Users with Scam Detection Tools

Mike Jude — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Malwarebytes' announcement of the inclusion of its scam detection and threat intelligence capabilities within the ChatGPT Apps function illuminates two important developments in the cybersecurity market. First, it demonstrates that scams have become a significant concern for both consumers and organizations: sufficient to pose a major threat to security. Second, it indicates that the cybersecurity vendor market is waking up to this threat and is delivering solutions to combat it. IDC believes that this is an important first step in containing the expanding threat that scams are driving.

Google-Apple Partnership: Will the Next Siri Update Open an Agentic Market of More than 2 Billion Shoppers?

Gerry Murray, Tapan Patel, Ornella Urso — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective discusses the Google–Apple partnership, which marks a pivotal shift toward agentic commerce with the potential to transform Siri into a seamless gateway to Google's expansive retail AI network. This collaboration is set to replatform digital commerce, driving frictionless, AI-mediated shopping experiences across billions of devices and compelling brands to rapidly adapt their infrastructure and strategies to remain competitive in an evolving, intent-driven marketplace.

Securing the Mobile Endpoint: Google Steps Up Its Smartphone Cybersecurity Capabilities

Mike Jude — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC study analyzes the evolving mobile cybersecurity landscape, highlighting Google's Pixel 10 Pro XL as a benchmark for securing mobile endpoints through layered hardware, AI-driven protections, and privacy-centric features. It details current threats, mitigation strategies, and future trends such as AI, zero trust, regulatory pressures, and unified management, offering essential guidance for manufacturers to build resilient, compliant, and user-centric secure devices in an increasingly complex wireless ecosystem.

"In a world where your smartphone is your vault, only layered hardware, AI, and relentless vigilance can keep your digital life truly secure." — Mike Jude, research director, Endpoint Security

EMEA Wholesale International Roaming Dynamics and Opportunities

Jan Hein Bakkers — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective analyzes the market for wholesale roaming in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The document provides a high-level market outlook and covers the key trends and opportunities in terms of technology and service development, including IoT, 5G SA, and travel eSIM.

"5G SA and IoT use cases will be catalysts for change in the wholesale roaming market in the coming years. Wholesale providers will need to balance scale and choice to be successful." — Senior Research Director Jan Hein Bakkers, IDC

European Small and Medium Business Telecoms Strategies: Research Coverage and Approach

Daniela Rao — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective provides an overview of the markets covered in IDC's European Small and Medium Business Telecoms Strategies research program. It analyzes various aspects of the European SMB (1–249 employees) market, such as connections and spending, as well as new noncore telecom services that are becoming a relevant part of several telco portfolios.

"To successfully address small and medium-sized businesses' diversity and fragmentation requires European telco to refocus their strategies and tactical actions," said Daniela Rao, senior research and consulting director, Telecom & UCC Global Research Team. "The IDC European Small and Medium Business Telecom CIS is aimed at supporting telecom players in the evolution toward digital services providers, by identifying future business models and strategies, as well as leveraging insights data and information from reliable sources."

AT&T Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2025 Results: Strategic Convergence, Fiber and 5G Scale, and Financial Outperformance — IDC Perspective

Jitesh Bhayani — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

AT&T concluded 2025 with robust fourth-quarter and full-year results, surpassing all consolidated financial guidance and reinforcing the effectiveness of its long-term strategy anchored in 5G leadership, fiber expansion, and customer convergence. The company's fourth-quarter consolidated revenue of $33.5 billion, representing 3.6% year-over-year (YoY) growth, underscores the resilience of AT&T's core connectivity businesses amid heightened industry competition and evolving consumer dynamics. Adjusted EBITDA growth of 4.1% further reflects disciplined cost management, operational leverage from fiber scale, and an increasingly profitable subscriber base.

The mobility segment remains AT&T's growth engine, delivering:

Apple Fiscal 1Q26: Record Quarter Powered by iPhone 17, But Silicon and Memory Supply Challenges Could Slow Momentum

Tom Mainelli — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Apple kicked off fiscal 1Q26 with a "quarter for the record books," delivering $143.8 billion in revenue (+16% YoY), powered by a strong iPhone cycle and another standout Services performance. iPhone revenue reached $85.3 billion (+23% YoY), while Services climbed to $30.0 billion (+14% YoY), underscoring how effectively Apple is pairing premium device demand with a high-margin, recurring revenue engine. Apple also noted its installed base now exceeds 2.5 billion active devices, and gross margin came in at 48.2%, above guidance, reflecting a favorable mix and execution. Looking ahead, Apple guided to March quarter revenue growth of 13–16% YoY while also flagging near-term supply constraints (linked to advanced-node capacity issues around Apple Silicon) and a more challenging component cost backdrop, particularly memory, as factors worth watching.

NRF 2026 Highlights — Enterprise Connectivity (Indirectly) Becomes Cool Again as AI Takes Center Stage

Paul Hughes — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Note looks at the National Retail Federation's (NRF's) 2026 flagship event, Retail's Big Show, which took place on January 11–13, 2026, in New York City, that brought an extensive ecosystem of technology players together, highlighted AI-enabled digital retail as a consistent theme, and indirectly highlighted that connectivity is now both "cool" and mission critical.

"While the overarching theme at NRF was AI-driven automation and digitalization, there was a silent winner," noted Paul Hughes, research director, Future Enterprise Connectivity Strategies, IDC. "AI cannot work without a resilient connectivity strategy in place, thus increasing the importance of a robust relationship with the connectivity provider to ensure that business goals are aligned with network capabilities."

Top 5 Predictions for the Worldwide AR/VR Market in 2026

Ramon T. Llamas, Tom Mainelli, Bryan Bassett — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective provides a discussion on some of the trends that will shape the worldwide AR/VR market in 2026. The worldwide AR/VR market in 2026 will see gradual but meaningful progress, driven by the convergence of AI, XR, and digital twins; the expansion of AR/VR applications; and the emergence of Android XR glasses. While adoption remains measured due to practical and economic constraints, advances in hardware, software, and content creation tools — alongside strategic mergers and acquisitions — will foster ecosystem growth, especially in high-impact enterprise and training scenarios.

"The past several years have shown multiple companies laying down the foundation of the AR/VR market. 2026 represents another year of progress, with multiple opportunities for companies to grow and gain," said Ramon T. Llamas, research director with IDC's XD and Interactive Software team. "Convergence of emerging technologies, emergence of new platforms and partners, and new and improving use cases are expected to take center stage this year and will make innovations launched just a few years ago look quaint. Companies with an eye to constant development of the AR/VR experience will be rewarded with end-user interest and ultimately, adoption."