Slow and obsolete: cell phone sales in the country drop by half and use time reaches 30 months

Rocio Magnani

10/23/2020 5:56 PM

• Clarín.com

• Society

Updated 10/23/2020 5:56 PM

For the third consecutive year, the sale of cell phones will close down, especially in smartphones.

This is determined by a study by analysts in the sector, which projects

purchased by buyers by December 31, which represents half of the operations that were completed in 2017. One of the consequences is that the People use

: the renewal time went from 18 months to the current 30 months.

The consulting firm Carrier y Asociados published a report, which also includes the informal market, in which it warns that the fall started strong in 2018, with

and deepened in 2019 (8.1 million), coinciding with the economic recession in Argentina.

The decrease in sales stands out in relation to the average sales in the previous six years.

Between 2011 and 2017, around

had been sold

"The pandemic will be the year with the lowest level of cell phone sales since 2004, when the massification of the service took off," says the report.

That this year we are talking about

speaks clearly of the state of the sector.

And of the country ”.

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Cell phones sold

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Source:

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It is “a situation that, clearly, was aggravated by the pandemic, not only due to its implacable economic effects, with

, but also due to having altered the normal production of equipment, both in the supply from China as well as the closure of plants in Tierra del Fuego ”, says the director of the consultancy, Enrique Carrier.

According to data from the Association of Electronics Factories (AFARTE), 1,817,765 cell phones were manufactured in the first half of 2020, 48% less than in the same period of the previous year.

The chamber brings together 29 companies in Tierra del Fuego, where all cell phones manufactured in Argentina are produced by assembly lines due to the province's tax exemptions, and which supply - according to their calculations - 90 percent of the market internal.

"Even being optimistic, I think that cell

phone

sales should not be above 5.5 million by the end of the year,"

AFARTE president Federico Hellemeyer

warned

.

“It is difficult to foresee what will happen between now and the end of the year, because we have

included, but we do not know how much will be able to be manufactured in these three months that remain for the pandemic, "he said.

2020 will be the year with the lowest level of cell phone sales since 2004. Photo: Martín Boneto

Lack of refinancing and revitalization

The restrictions on the cell phone market, Hellemeyer explained, are "both due to demand, because

, and to supply, because less is manufactured than could be manufactured."

Along these lines, he clarified that Tierra del Fuego primarily supplies the domestic market and "if the domestic market responds less, we have to manufacture less."

“It's not that we manufacture more and drive consumption, it doesn't work like that.

In general, the productive scheme that exists in Tierra del Fuego for cell phones are contracts with cell phone brands, such as Samsung, LG or Motorola, which have agreements with local and multinational factories, and

.

Those who market the equipment are the brands, which are the ones that negotiate with retailers and telecommunications companies, ”he described.

The phenomenon of the pandemic, continued Hellemeyer, is inscribed "in a context in which consumption had been hit in previous years, without any sign of revitalization of consumption towards the beginning of the year (2020)".

As of October, in addition, the national government

which contemplates the purchase in 12 and 18 installments with a three-month grace period at subsidized rates of various products and services.

The national government withdrew cell phones from the Now 12 plan. SAMSUNG

t “A cell phone is a product with a price that makes it necessary in a context like the current one to stimulate its sale through some type of financial tool.

Without Now 12, consumption suffers and

.

All other consumer durables, like electronics, appliances, are still on the program, "Hellemeyer said.

Older cell phones

One of the effects of the drop in sales for 3 consecutive years is that the use of the devices is stretched, that is, the renewal cycle becomes longer.

According to the Carrier report, the average age of a cell phone went from 18 months "in its best times" to about 30 months today, "a clear indicator of the aging of the cell phone pool in use."

A caveat must be made, says the consultancy: "This context of a string of recessive years

that acts as a driver for its renewal, as was the arrival of 4G, for example While the latest releases tend to emphasize the camera, which is where a good rate of evolution is maintained ”.

The average age of a cell phone went from 18 to 30 months.

Photo: Shutterstock

As a consequence for “aging” cell phone users, many devices “may

, especially those added after the misnamed ´refarming 'a few years ago that allowed certain spectrum attributed to services. fixed can be used for mobiles ”.

For Hellemeyer, that would change if there was a technological migration to 5G, but he explained that it is still uncertain when it could be since "it is still a very low penetration technology" in the world.

"The cell phone from some time now," he remembers, "reached a certain maturity.

Five years ago,

or the differences between low-end and high-end products were very large ”.

Today, on the other hand, “the benefits between the two ranges are more or less the same, although the quality varies a bit.

But basically

, long-lasting batteries, and the same frequency band coverage technology.

Then people extend the useful life of the devices a little and that means that one has equipment that is becoming a little more obsolete, with a little scarce memory for the near future, for example, "he said.

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