By Benjamin Carton, economist in IMF’s Research Department; Joannes Mongardini, deputy division chief in IMF’s Research Department; and Yiqun Li, research assistant in IMF’s Research Department
Over a decade of spectacular growth, demand for smartphones has created a new global tech cycle that last year produced a new smartphone for every fifth person on earth.
This has created a complex and evolving supply chain across Asia, changing the export and growth performance of several countries. While our recent analysis of Chinese smartphone exports suggests that the global market may be saturated, demand for other electronics