Smartphones decided not to be cheap

Deliveries to Russia of smartphones worth up to 10 thousand rubles. fell in the first half of the year by 56%, calculated in the GS Group. Deliveries of all smartphones for the same period decreased by 38%. Retailers differ in their assessment of demand for cheap devices: some say that their sales have been declining for several years, while others, on the contrary, see positive dynamics on the eve of the new school year. The technical characteristics of cheap smartphones will decline, so the demand for them will continue to fall in the short term, analysts say.

“Kommersant” got acquainted with the report of GS Group on the import of mobile phones in the Russian Federation for the first half of the year. It follows from the document that the supply of smartphones worth up to 10 thousand rubles. decreased by 56% compared to the same period last year, to 2.7 million units. Deliveries of smartphones in the middle segment (10-30 thousand rubles) decreased by 24%, to 5.5 million units. Imports of expensive devices decreased by 38% to 1.6 million units. In total, 9.9 million smartphones were shipped in the first six months, down 38% from the first half of 2021, the report said.

According to GS Group, phones of the lower price segment account for 27% of total deliveries (a year earlier, the figure was 38%), the middle segment – 56% (46% a year ago), and the share of the top remained at 17%.

Analysts at GS Group believe that the supply of cheap smartphones has declined largely due to the withdrawal of Samsung from the Russian market – the South Korean supplier accounted for a third of the segment. The change in the policy of Chinese Xiaomi and Realme also affected, which almost halved the supply of inexpensive models, the company noted.

In the first half of the year, manufacturers faced a disruption in supply chains, so there was a decrease in the supply of all smartphones in the market. Now the situation is stabilizing, MegaFon notes. MTS says that sales of smartphones up to 10 thousand rubles. decreased by 34% in the first half of the year: “Their share in total smartphone sales decreased by 7%, to 23%.”

Demand for inexpensive smartphones has been falling for years, as these are “entry-level” devices, and consumers want to buy the next smartphone with more power, Marvel Distribution explains. The decline in sales of cheap smartphones is also associated with a global shortage of chips, due to which prices are rising, a Kommersant source in one of the retailers explains: “Those devices that used to cost 10 thousand rubles are now sold for 15 thousand rubles. Processors, memory and other components have risen in price.”

In Citilink, on the contrary, they note a shift in demand towards more budget models of smartphones: up to 10 thousand rubles.

Growth in demand for budget smartphones is also observed in M.Video-Eldorado. It, according to a representative of the retailer, increased in the second quarter, and the average check for smartphones of a low price category decreased by 4% compared to last year, the company added: “We expect that demand for this category will continue, for example, such devices traditionally in demand before the start of the new school year.

In Russia, budget smartphones have now risen in price by about 50%, said TelecomDaily analyst Ilya Shatilin: “Those devices that can be bought in India and China for 10 thousand rubles are sold in Russia for 15 thousand rubles.” This is due both to the ruble exchange rate and logistical restrictions, he clarified.

In addition, over the past three or four years, the requirements for devices have changed, gadgets with a small amount of memory and weak processors do not allow the full use of modern applications, the analyst notes. According to him, the demand for such gadgets could grow in the regions and is associated with a decrease in real incomes of the population. Ilya Shatilin believes that the market for cheap smartphones will continue to decline, and demand will move to the segment of devices worth 20-30 thousand rubles.

Anastasia Gavrilyuk