Although Apple Smart phone gained a global market share with the iPhone, overall, all device manufacturers had a very poor third quarter, with a 9 percent decrease in the smartphone market year-on-year.

The economic situation and inflation have left their mark on the smartphone market as well, it is clear that customers are buying fewer premium devices compared to the same period in previous years, and the proportion of people buying phones with a good price-value ratio has increased. It is typical that customers take advantage of the option of paying in installments, and if they also choose a premium, they prefer to pay off the price of the device on a monthly basis. This is also induced by increasingly expensive devices – WhatMobile summarized the market processes for our report. OPPO Pakistan’s press department also reported on similar processes: mid-range smartphones are primarily in demand among their customers, and there is no significant decline in the number of phone replacements – i.e. switching to a more modern device.

As far as Europe is concerned, there are problems not only with the premium category, but with the smartphone market in general – although in the Eurozone, premium products make up a significant part of the market.

Smart phone Sales have already fell by 12 percent.

According to the analysts, there are two main reasons for this. One is that due to the collapse of global supply chains and the sometimes improving and sometimes worsening epidemic situation in Asian countries, the supply of individual product components is interrupted. On the other hand, the economic environment deteriorated significantly – due to the inflationary shock and the Russian-Ukrainian war.

It is interesting that the two reasons contradict each other, the first blames the decrease in sales on the manufacturers (low inventory, weak supplier background), the second on the customers (decreasing disposable income), and this shows some confusion on the market sky rocketing the Samsung, OPPO, Vivo, and Infinix mobile price tags. Globally, the situation is clearer than this, as the companies indicated the weak economic environment and more moderate spending when asked by analysts. The mobile phone market produced the worst performance in the last 8 years in the third quarter.

 

Of course, the premium segment here is a special area, it works a little differently, although the sales trends follow the world market. According to the information given to Media.

“the most popular phones in market range from Rs. 30 to 50 thousand, “

and the demand for Apple products is typically outstanding during the Christmas period. Although these goods represent a higher price category, we expect increased interest this year as well – the company stated in response to our newspaper’s inquiry. In other words, in certain situations, the premium segment is a bit separated from the others, since in such cases, even those whose status does not allow for a 350-500 thousand phone, but who have been saving for one for 2-3 years, also buy such a device.

Smart phone Premium segment

In general, those who are regularly interested in premium-category mobile phones are typically not shaken by the deteriorating economic environment, but the price of these devices is adjusted to the wallets of the middle class of developed economies, but this level represents the upper middle class of developing economies.

While the former is very sensitive to the rising energy and food prices, the latter is not so much. But if the potential buyers of the developed economy are eliminated, the latter is unable to support sales with its demand, and it has no effect on the manufacturer-retailer promotions or on the reduction of prices. Not to mention that due to the disintegration of global supply chains, the counter value of premium category products has increased significantly.

Calculated in Rupees, half a million is now being asked for a top-of-the-range phone, and this is a psychological limit not only here, but also elsewhere, which encourages customers to wait or look for alternative solutions.

However, with general use, the lifespan of high-end mobile phones is one and a half or two times longer than that of mid-range ones, and in addition, phone manufacturers offer updates for the top segment much longer. Apple, for example, only now considers its computer technology products from 7-9 years ago to be obsolete.

At the same time, in previous years, the manufacturers “sprinkled” the market with high-end mobile phones that can be used for a long time, so much so that today, due to the weaker economic environment, a good number of customers prefer to wait for the replacement, since the usability of the old one has not deteriorated. In this way, however, the much-anticipated 5G, which could have been a real driving force for the high-end mobile market this year and in the following years, is relegated to the background. It is difficult to say from the available data whether customers will postpone the exchange of mobile phones, Telenor said.

“On the other hand, it clearly follows from the economic conditions that demand has generally moderated.”

Regardless, at Telenor , we consider it important to have a competitively priced device offer for every customer segment, so we try to help customers with offers in every tariff and product category. These special offers (like sales in stores) are still popular.

Smart phone Services

According to the Jazz Telecom’s information, there were no significant changes in terms of services, the base of monthly fee subscribers continues to grow. In this service category, more and more people are looking for unlimited mobile data and calls, so the popularity of our Prime tariffs, which provide them, is unbroken, they said. Apart from a few minor fluctuations, there is no visible tendency for customers to move from monthly to prepaid services, so the number of these customers is still negligible. In addition to these, home internet services are also popular with both 4G and the country’s first 5G network, which shows that customers are increasingly open to home internet services via mobile networks.

In this area, therefore, no major savings are visible. Ufone also sees that monthly fee and prepaid services are both popular, and there are also changes between individual service packages, but the related trend is unchanged.

Zong Telecom sees that data usage among its top-up card and monthly fee subscribers is constantly increasing, more and more people are looking for 5G-capable devices, the number of people using 5G services is also increasing, and Net packages are also being chosen in increasing numbers .

Choice

According to Zong Telecom’s data, users choose a device in such a way that it adapts to their own needs as much as possible, so that they are ready to solve any life situation they find themselves in with the help of the devices and the digital world.

This is usually typical for the domestic markets. According to the research, the mobile phone as a status symbol is increasingly relegated to the background, and the younger generation also mainly takes the functionality of the devices as a basis when choosing a device. Of course, the fact that younger people typically choose higher-priced mobile phones is a different matter, because they use more functions of smartphones.

“According to the Zong Telecom, camera quality, battery life and display size are the primary criteria for choosing a device among the general public.”

According to our statistics, the company said, the brand also has a strong influence on the choice: there is great interest in the product catalog of the well established brands Samsung mobiles price list, Apple, Xiaomi, as well as in the OPPO new model 2022 price in Pakistan. Among the operating systems, Android devices have priority when purchasing. In addition to product and brand characteristics, consumer preferences are also influenced by price: although younger people prefer more expensive, top-of-the-range devices, older people prefer medium- and low-priced devices that are easier to use.