Another day, another bleak report dealing with the short-term repercussions of the mobile industry’s lack of “breakthrough features or specs.” But while Credit Suisse analysts made downright apocalyptic predictions yesterday of a massive Q1 2019 decline in global smartphone production, TrendForce today tackles full-year numbers, which might not be quite so bad.

If the market research firm is correct, 1.41 billion smartphones will be produced in total around the world this year, down 3.3 percent from the estimated 2018 tally. In addition to a weak “overall demand outlook” caused by the industry’s ...