Citing uncertainties about U.S. tariffs, Counterpoint Research said Wednesday that it was revising its 2025 global smartphone shipment growth projection to 1.9% year over year, rather than 4.2%. While growth is likely in most regions, North America is expected to see a decline due to price increases from tariffs, it said.

Apple stock was down Friday after President Donald Trump said it and other smartphone makers could be subject to sizable tariffs starting at the end of June. Trump "long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple" about his expectation that iPhones sold in the U.S. "will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else," he wrote Friday on Truth Social. "If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S." Later, Trump told reporters the tariffs would also apply to Samsung and other smartphone makers. "Otherwise it wouldn't be fair," he said, adding that the tariffs should be ready next month. "When they build their plant here, there's no tariff." He also told reporters he was confident Apple could build iPhones in the U.S. that would be price-competitive. Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst covering tech for TF International Securities, posted on X that in terms of profitability, "it's way better for Apple to take the hit of a 25% tariff on iPhones sold in the US market than to move iPhone assembly lines back to US." Apple closed at $195.27, down $6.09.

More than 1 million drones are registered in the U.S., according to the FAA, and the Department of Homeland Security takes the threat seriously, said a Tuesday release. “The overwhelming majority are used for legitimate commercial and recreational purposes,” but “there is no avoiding that they can also be used for illicit and nefarious means,” DHS said. During this year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans, the FAA designated the Superdome and the area around it as a no-fly zone, including drones, DHS said: “This did not prevent more than 70 drone operators from attempting to enter the restricted area and approach the stadium. All of these attempts had to be taken seriously and were dealt with appropriately.”

The number of installed smart TVs and connected TVs should reach 4.2 billion globally by 2030, up from 2.65 billion today, Rethink TV said Thursday. It said Android-based platforms will claim close to two-thirds of that expansion, new operating systems are carving out regional footholds, and formerly dominant platforms are seeing declines. Android TV will expand, driven by new integrations and retail adoption, but Chromecast will disappear entirely by 2030, it said. Huawei's HarmonyOS Android variant has significant market share in China and will reach 932 million units globally by 2030. The analyst group also said smart TV sales will continue to climb through 2030, while connected TV device sales will decline. In mature markets, smart TVs are displacing HDMI dongles.

Six TV operating systems dominate the U.S. connected TV marketplace, and their unified search recommendations "are anything but neutral," nScreenMedia's Colin Dixon wrote Monday. He said many homes have devices powered by multiple TV operating systems, and search and discovery by viewers can be complicated given the systems' different interfaces. While a unified search function is gaining popularity, viewers can end up seeing very different results depending on which TV they are using, he said. Adding to the confusion is the fact that some subscription video-on-demand providers like Netflix don't let universal search find their content. Plus, TV operating systems are often biased toward their own services and certain third-party services, meaning the first option a system offers in a search "will usually be the option that benefits it the most," Dixon said.

SpaceX and T-Mobile said Wednesday that the FCC requiring devices compatible with the companies' supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service to be certified under its Part 25 satellite communications rules -- when they're already certified under the agency's terrestrial wireless rules -- is "overly prescriptive." In a docket 23-65 request, they asked the commission to waive rules so consumers can use devices approved as of June 29, 2024, for service under the agency's Parts 22, 24 and 27 rules, without a need for Part 25 certification. They said that under current FCC rules, consumers can't use SCS service unless the maker of their equipment modifies the device's authorization. SpaceX and T-Mobile said making SCS service providers like them block service on a device-by-device basis could create consumer confusion. The June 2024 date relates to when a streamlined certification authorization period for manufacturers went into effect; that ends this June, they said.

An estimated 405 million generative AI-capable smartphones will ship this year -- roughly one of every three units shipped, Counterpoint said Wednesday. That will be up from 241 million in 2024, it said. The integration of GAI into smartphones is accelerating faster than expected due to chipset advancements and more competitive large language models, it said. In addition, GAI capabilities are becoming standard in premium phones and will expand into the midrange segment this year. Apple and Samsung are expected to dominate the GAI market initially.

A majority (75%) of new passenger cars sold globally in 2024 featured embedded cellular connectivity, up slightly from 71% the year before, Counterpoint said Wednesday. The growing prevalence of embedded connectivity in mass-market cars is driving the increase, with automakers integrating real-time navigation, connected in-car entertainment and advanced telematics. It said embedded cellular connectivity is increasingly a standard feature.

New U.S. tariffs against China and weakening consumer demand will result in a slower market for PCs and tablets than originally forecast, IDC said Wednesday. Global PC volume is now expected to hit 273 million in 2025, a 3.7% increase over 2024, while tablet shipments are expected to shrink 0.8%, IDC said. It projects an anemic compound annual growth rate of 0.4% for PCs in 2025-29. “Price hikes stemming from tariffs in the US combined with subdued demand are leading to a negative impact within the largest market for PCs,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers.

Demand for Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses helped drive a 210% year-over-year jump in global smart glasses shipments last year, Counterpoint said Wednesday. It said Metas represented more than 60% of the market share in 2024. An array of competing smart glasses have come on the market since late 2024, most of them from Chinese companies, it said, and numerous other launches are expected this year and next.