The worldwide smartphone industry marked significant expansion in October, breaking its growth stagnation of over two years. The surge is largely attributed to the rebound in emerging markets, says Counterpoint Research data.

According to the research, the volume of global smartphone sell-through increased by 5% in October. This increase made it the inaugural month to register a year-on-year growth since June 2021. This growth successfully breaks the cycle of 27 successive months witnessing negative year-on-year growth.

Major issues such as component shortages, inventory pile-up, and longer replacement cycles have put the global smartphone sales under considerable strain for the past two years as outlined in the Counterpoint report.

The research firm foresees the market growing year-on-year in the last quarter of 2023 following the strong growth in October. This prediction sets the market on the trajectory of incremental recovery in the following quarters.

The growth in the market, earlier observed in June 2021 on account of pent-up demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is currently being driven by continuous recovery in emerging markets. This recovery can be seen in the Middle East and Africa, Huawei's resurgence in China, and the festive season's onset in India.

Huawei recorded considerable growth in its China smartphone sales in the third quarter, with a stunning 37% upsurge. The robust sales were primarily driven by the popularity of its Mate 60 series phones.

Developed markets with high smartphone penetration rates have been slower to recover. However, the report listed the launch of Apple's iPhone 15 series as an additional contributor to the overall market growth.