IMF says smartphones accounted for a sixth of global trade growth in 2017. China ships most gizmos; South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan top component production; and Ireland captures the intangible value since Apple’s intellectual property is housed there. For example, in South Korea, production of smartphone parts made up a third of 2017 economic growth—and even more in Taiwan. The tech cycle based on smartphones is highly sensitive to the calendar for product releases. India is a big importer of smartphones but is not plugged into any part of the production cycle, be it components, final products or intellectual property.

Source: Mint April 18, 2018 21:45 UTC