The article only mentions that forecasts for the <i>increase</i> of cell-phone demand in China is around 14%, whereas that same market experienced 27% growth from 2014 to now (we&#x27;d have to follow the article&#x27;s sources to confirm this or disentangle the exact forecast and measurement).<p>So decline in this setting means a decline <i>in growth</i> -- that <i>growth is slowing down</i>. Whether that remains the longer term trend is still a hard call to make, and the article makes no comments about growth in other geographic markets.<p>It&#x27;s definitely disingenuous of the article&#x27;s author to make generic statements about all smartphones or statements that at first blush seem to be about the general worldwide demand for smartphone technology. But this article isn&#x27;t really a robust analysis of anything; just clickbait to feed confirmation bias of market pessimists and spread more FUD to befuddled mainstream news patron types.