08/26/2020 - 10:11
- Clarín.com
- Technology
The global sale of cell phones suffered a 20.4% drop in the second quarter of 2020 : some 295 million units were sold in this period, and it represents a reduction in which the coronavirus pandemic had a lot to do.
The information comes from a report presented by the American consultancy Gartner.
"Travel restrictions, retail closings and more prudent spending on non-essential products during the pandemic led to the second consecutive quarterly decline in smartphone sales this year," said Gartner Research Director Anshul Gupta.
The report details the heaviest markets for mobile phone sales. In China it was down 7 percent during this period, with around 94 million units sold. India registered the worst drop among the five main countries in the world in the sale of smartphones, with a decrease of 46 percent, due to the measures taken by the Government of the country to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
China, the main market. Photo EFE
In terms of companies, Samsung and Xiaomi recorded the biggest drops. The South Korean company has sold about 55 million phones in the second quarter of the year, which represents a reduction of 27.1 percent year-on-year, while Xiaomi has suffered a drop of 21.5 percent.
Huawei was the second company in the market that has sold the most units in this period, with more than 54 million, but it has also suffered a drop of 6.8 percent.
Finally, Apple has sold 38 million units in the second quarter of this year, 0.4 percent less than the previous year.
"Apple's iPhone sales outperformed most smartphone vendors in the market for the quarter and also increased quarter-over-quarter sales," added Gartner Vice President of Research Annette Zimmermann.
In Argentina, prices are lower than in Chile and the US.
The mobile phone market was affected by the pandemic. Photo EFE
Despite this global trend, prices in Argentina are lower than in other contexts. The average price of the best-selling equipment in the last two months varies between $ 15,000 and $ 28,900 depending on the brand, with values in dollars below other markets and with sales rates similar to before the pandemic, according to different executives.
"Currently it is being sold at the same rate as before the quarantine; the drawback is that the sector has a very low stock . With which the first problem is not being able to meet the demand due to lack of stock", explained to Télam the Motorola commercial director, Martín Novoa.
He added that even with the start-up of the production plants in Tierra del Fuego, "the weekly production is still well below the manufacturing values before the quarantine ."
He specified that "the volume of equipment leaving the factory is 70% and with little flexibility to have many models ", adding that "now another sensitive issue has been added, which is the issue of the limitation of payments in dollars abroad , that would stop the import of parts to be able to produce in TDF, and its consequent shortage ".
