04/02/2021 15:56
Clarín.com
Technology
Updated 04/02/2021 3:56 PM
The demand for cell phones grew in the last five years
, and was accompanied by an increase in prices that makes these types of devices currently
75% more expensive than five years ago.
However, in Argentina they are
"the same or cheaper"
than abroad.
The online price comparator, idealo.es, carried out a study to analyze different aspects in the evolution of smartphones, within the framework of the 37th anniversary of the first mobile phone call by Motorola.
Year after year, the telecommunications market offers new features in smartphones, such as wireless connection with
5G
technology
,
Artificial Intelligence, through cameras with super zoom, the possibility of
integrating two SIMs at the same time,
facial recognition, folding screens, among others. trends.
Each update and design of phones reactivates the consumer's “need” to be up-to-date, with which the idealo.es study concludes that since
2016 the demand for smartphones has increased more than 244 percent,
which shows an accelerated rate of users to change or search for a new mobile device.
And in addition, these novelties represent an increase in the price, to the point that it was registered that, compared to five years ago, mobile phones have cost 75 percent more today, as the comparator shared in a release.
The study reveals that Samsung, Apple and Xiaomi are the preferred mobile phone brands of consumers.
In 2016 the demand was led by the Samsung Galaxy S6, while in 2017 and 2018 the Chinese company Xiaomi entered the game.
For 2019
Apple was positioned at the top
and shared space with
Samsung
and Xiaomi, while for 2020 and 2021 the company of the bitten apple led the preference of the Spanish.
Telephones have become an essential item for most people, or so 70 percent of Spaniards acknowledge, who say they do not leave home without checking if they have their mobile with them.
In Spain 96 percent of citizens have a mobile phone and of these,
87 percent are smartphones.
In Argentina, "equal or cheaper"
Tierra del Fuego, cell phone assembly.
AFP photo
On the other hand, the prices of smartphones produced in Tierra del Fuego and sold in Argentina are "the same or cheaper" than abroad, even with a production that would only cover domestic demand in September.
This was explained by the general manager of Motorola, Germán Greco, in an interview with the Télam agency.
─How is the demand for equipment in Argentina, after production fell to 6.5 million units in 2020?
─The demand is super strong.
Last year's factory closures led to supply lag and unsatisfied demand.
There is
a 30% gap.
We are getting closer but still behind due to global problems because there are global shortages of everything;
there is demand for chipset, screens, memories.
No supplier can cope.
And logistics problems because there are fewer commercial flights.
─Are they producing in Tierra del Fuego at the same level as before the pandemic?
─We produce more because last year we invested in five new lines and in adapting the ships to adapt them to the protocols.
Now we invest in two more lines.
We are getting closer
and closer to having the stock
that we should have.
We will be arriving in the middle of the year, August or September.
We are producing between 20 and 30% more.
And the investment is constant.
We will have invested between US $ 1 and 2 million.
─How much do you think the total market production will be this year?
─Last year it was 6.5 million units, it has never been produced so low.
This year the growth will be 30% year over year.
Between 8 and 8.5 million.
─And you?
─We intend to grow 20.30%.
There are ten thousand variables: you have to see the economy, you have to see the dollar, that there is no global logistical impediment or that everything gets worse.
I hope we have learned and do not close the factories again.
Hopefully it remains open to recover stocks and supply consumers who are very demanding.
In quarantine, the cell phone is revalued
, also the computers, but they are more expensive.
Our mission is to try to solve that and continue to bring equipment and at reasonable prices.
It is not a question of people paying for anything.
─Why did the sale of high-end equipment go from 4% to 13% of the total in 2020?
─The mix was changed by the value of the dollar.
What is high-end?
What is worth 45 today, was previously worth 30 and was out of the high range.
What was worth 45 today is worth 60 and is high-end.
The price is being accommodated, based on the dollar.
For me the high-end now starts at $ 50,000.
The high-high range was maintained and in fact was affected by the removal of the Now 12;
for $ 100,000 phones, if you don't have fees, nobody buys them.
In our case, 90% of the volume is below
$ 40,000, where it is easier to put quotas.
─What is the average price of the best-selling equipment?
─It is between $ 25 and $ 30,000.
Last year when we were talking about 30,000 pesos the dollar
was 70 and now it is 95.
─A device of that price is not a device suitable for 5G.
─No.
We launched the first 5G ready in Argentina five months ago and it was $ 80,000, today it is $ 90,000.
The new model, the G100, is also at 80 which, if it had the Now 12 it would be at $ 60,000.
We will be working so that every time the lowest products have 5G ready.
The technology is going there, there are no more high-end 4G chipsets.
We will have technology before networks.
Very similar to what happened with 4G.
─With dollarized inputs, does the Tierra del Fuego regime serve the brands?
─Because of the regulations, it is convenient for you to produce here.
We have assumed this model again and we know how it works.
We have optimized the production process, of course if the rules change we will adapt.
We are the only company that never left Argentina.
Others left and came back, others left and never came back, and still others never came in.
We have been here
for 60 years
, we go through the good and the bad.
We have it in our DNA to adapt.
This model closes us, it works for us.
With information from Télam and DPA
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