Mobile phone industry is threatened with the loss of billions in sales: a simple change in behavior causes great concern

Created: 2022-02-09 16:16

Smartphone manufacturers are threatened with a drop in sales.

© Morteza Nikoubazl via www.imago-images.de

A change in consumer behavior leads to the loss of billions in sales for smartphone manufacturers.

The EU market is likely to be hit the hardest.

Hamburg - A new smartphone every year?

The constantly new models with better chips, cameras and functions make it tempting to switch.

However, according to a study, switching quickly from one cell phone to the next is now a thing of the past for many consumers.

According to a study by the credit insurer Euler Hermes, this could cost smartphone providers hundreds of billions in sales over the next few years.

Above all, smaller providers are at risk instead of the heavyweights such as the currently three largest manufacturers Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi.

Loss of billions in sales: Consumers are holding their smartphones longer than before

"Consumers have become more sustainable in recent years and are now holding on to their smartphones much longer," said Milo Bogaerts, head of Germany at the Allianz subsidiary.

"Europeans currently exchange their devices after around 40 months on average - that's around a quarter longer than in 2016." In the USA, consumers are currently exchanging their smartphones after around 24 months - but there, too, the useful life of the devices has changed since 2016 30 percent extended.

“The replacement cycles will continue to lengthen in the coming years.

This will not remain without consequences for the industry,” forecasts Euler Hermes industry analyst Aurélien Duthoit.

"By 2025, this puts cumulative global sales totaling $134 billion at risk."

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Smartphone industry: Even 5G devices will probably not bring a booster

According to Duthoit, the relatively new and still not very widespread mobile standard 5G should not be suitable as a “booster for new record hunts in the smartphone industry”, at least for the time being.

"So far, the absolute 'killer function' has been missing from 5G devices," was the analyst's verdict.

"That could explain the lack of consumer enthusiasm for 5G devices, along with the sometimes disappointing mobile data speeds compared to theoretical capacities." one punch to the front." (md with dpa)