Cell phone sales are declining and the number is the worst recorded in ten years. Find out more!
The global mobile phone sales market is falling with no prospect of improvement in relation to the expected shrinkage and with very worrying numbers. Mobile phone sales in the first half of 2023 fell 13.3% compared to the same period in 2022.
This is the industry's worst performance in the last ten years, taking into account only the figures for the first half of this year, according to a study by TrendForce. According to the report, 522 million units were sold. The study points to three main reasons for the decline in sales.
Find out now what these factors are and learn more about the subject!
Drop in sales
According to the TrendForce report, this performance is the worst in the last ten years. In the first half of the year, 522 million cell phones were sold, which represents a drop of 13.3% compared to the same period last year. In the third quarter of the year, sales fell by 20% compared to the second, which was 6.6% from the first quarter of this year.
The study points out that there are three main reasons for this decline in the sector and the lower production than expected by manufacturers. They are: the easing of pandemic restrictions in China, which did not generate the expected demand; the Indian market, which is not meeting expectations; and the unfavorable global economic situation, which is causing consumers to save and spend less.
Top 5 in the global market
In addition to the complicated period for companies, the study highlights the new top 5 largest cell phone manufacturers, which presents an important change.
1 – Samsung
2 – Apple
3 – Xiaomi
4 – Oppp
5 – Transition
Samsung has 19.8% of the sector and Apple has 15.4%, with both leading. However, they have performed worse compared to the previous months of 2023. Xiaomi has 12.9% and Opp 12.3%, fighting for third place, but the bad phase of Xiaomi manufacturer may cause it to be overtaken soon.
The biggest news is the presence of Transsion, which appears in fifth place. With 9.2% of the market, it is responsible for the brands TECNO, Infinix and itel, which sell most in the entry and low-cost segments in emerging countries and international websites. It surpassed vivo, which is now in sixth place, with 8.5% of the sector's share.
The main expectation is that the numbers will not change much in the coming months. The launch of the iPhone 15 should keep Apple in second place, but could result in a shift to first place depending on sales, as Samsung's new foldable phones, the Galaxy X Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5, are not achieving such significant numbers.
Despite the poor numbers with its new foldables, Samsung believes it will be able to surpass Apple in the number of sales with these cell phones, taking the company out of the crisis it has been facing since the pandemic boom. Samsung has a high number of sales of mid-range cell phones, but the same does not happen with high-end cell phones. Therefore, the company has been betting on this type of model, believing that it can increase its sales and reach Apple's numbers. The iPhone 15 will be launched on the 12th and will be one of the competitors of the South Korean company's Flip cell phones.
Brazil
In Brazil, convincing users to buy a new, more expensive cell phone is an increasingly difficult task for manufacturers. Before the pandemic, the average time to replace a cell phone was up to one year, but now it has reached two years or more. When they decide to replace their cell phone, most Brazilians opt for a similar cell phone, or if it is more sophisticated, they choose a used device.
Most Brazilians only change their cell phones when they have had them stolen or when they break. Last year, of the 30 million cell phones sold in retail, 22 million were replacements for similar models and 8 million were upgrades, according to data from the consultancy GfK.
The survey also shows that 2.5 million units represented a second extra device for the same consumer and 4 million units were purchased to replace a stolen or lost device. Only 1.7 million cell phones represented the first purchase in 2022.
