The lower consumer demand, crisis and inflation push the cost of smartphones up. As a result, the flagship market has shrunk, and users are increasingly choosing to buy something cheaper for daily use. The demand for affordable smartphones is consistently high, and according to analysts at IDC, devices under $400 account for 73% of global handset shipments in 2020.
73% of global users prefer smartphones under $ 400
Most of all in the second quarter of this year, consumers preferred gadgets with a price tag from $100 to $400, which allowed this price category to occupy 60% of the global smartphone market. Such devices were most actively purchased in Latin America, the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. Interestingly, in the United States, where they do not save on the purchase of smartphones, the demand for affordable devices with a price tag of up to $200 has also increased – from 20% to 27%.
The average price segment, which ranges from $400 to $600, accounted for 11.6%. And by the end of the second quarter of this year, it grew by 4%. The most active purchase of such smartphones was in China, where their share increased from 8% to 21%.
Analysts predict that demand for models with a price tag of $100 to $400 will continue to grow, as users increasingly prefer affordable devices. 5G smartphones will become increasingly popular, with an average price of $465 in 2024.
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Canalys: 5G smartphones will hit the 278 Million shipments mark by the end of 2020
We saw the great arrival of the fifth-gen network in the last year. However, 2020 is the year when this trend is finally catching costumers. The reason is quite simple, while in 2019 we had just a very few, expensive, 5G smartphones, 2020 introduced the 5G connectivity to the mid-range segment. Despite the ongoing pandemic, the rise of mid-range smartphones 5G connectivity was unstoppable. Now we have plenty of 5G chipsets from Qualcomm and MediaTek. The latter with its Dimensity lineup is helping several companies in China to bring down the price of 5G phones. According to Canalys, China currently leads the network deployment and handset availability. The research firm states that 278 million phones with 5G will be sold in 2020. Over 62% of them, around 172 million will be sold in the Greater China market.
Currently, predictions state that the 5G market will double by 2021. With twice the current amount of devices available in markets across the world. In the next year, all key regions should expand even more their 5G coverage. The price ratio for 5G smartphones should keep its downfall until the next year. If you recall, in the start of 2020 we hadn’t any 5G handset coming down the 300 price tag. Now, there are plenty of mid-range phones in the sub $250 range offering 5G connectivity. Moreover, Realme introduced on September 1 the Realme V3 5G which is the most affordable smartphone to come with 5G network support.
