New research shows that the smartphone market will recover in 2024, after two years of sharp declines.

However, From Apple The iPhone played only a minor role in that recovery compared to competing Android phones. data released Tuesday (Nov. 26). IDC shows.

Global smartphone shipments are expected to increase 6.2% to 1.24 billion units this year, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. It’s a trend driven by “pent-up demand for device upgrades,” the research group said in an article press release.

And while this year marked a robust recovery for the smartphone sector, IDC expects growth to slow to single digits from next year and beyond, due to increasing smartphone penetration, longer refresh cycles and a fast-growing used phone market.

“While GenAI It remains a hot topic and top priority for many vendors, but is yet to have a significant impact on demand and is driving early upgrades,” said Nabila Popal, senior research director at IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

“While we continue to believe that GenAI will revolutionize the user experience in the coming years, more investment is needed to increase consumer awareness and introduce a ‘must have’ feature that will rush consumers to the store and super cycle that everyone is waiting for.”

For now, IDC expects that smartphones using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) will “take their place in premium flagship devices” and account for 70% of the smartphone market by 2028.

According to the report, Android phones saw rapid growth of 7.6% this year in Asia (excluding Japan and China), Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, especially in lower-cost devices. This growth was crucial for the overall increase of 6.2%. By comparison, Apple’s iOS phones are expected to rise just 0.4% this year.

“Despite record-breaking performance in emerging markets like India, Apple is facing challenges challenges in major markets such as China, the US and Europe,” the report said. “Looking ahead to 2025, the tides will turn as iOS is expected to grow 3.1% year-on-year, surpassing Android’s forecast 1.7% growth over the same period.”

PYMNTS examined the race among smartphone makers enticing consumers with the help of AI earlier this month.

“One good thing about AI-powered apps is their ability to create personalized experiences,” Dmytro Tymoshenko, the CEO of Noiz, which creates AI-powered summaries of YouTube videos, told PYMNTS. “AI is able to analyze data at very high speed, allowing it, for example, to recommend content quite quickly based on user preferences.”