SILICON VALLEY/TOKYO -- Sales of Apple's iPhone are growing again thanks to the popularity of the latest model -- the initially disappointing iPhone 7. Turns out that iPhone addiction is much harder to kick than previously thought and is now driving Apple's growth in an increasingly maturing smartphone market.
Last year was a tipping point for smartphone makers. While sales have tripled in the past five years -- to 1.47 billion units in 2016, according to U.S. research outfit IDC -- year-on-year growth has slowed to a mere 2%.
