Only Apple and Xiaomi weather the storm: the mobile market continues to fall and prices rise

It has not been a good year, in general terms, for the mobile phone market. The November data showed that it was not raising its head, and everything seems to be going beyond the COVID crisis. Mobile phones are getting more expensiveless and less differentiated from each other, and only two companies are holding their own.

Apple continues to watch from the throne as the market falls. Xiaomi also survives

Global mobile phone revenues are down 3% year-on-year. This is a relatively slight drop, even more so if we take into account that shipments have fallen by 12% year-on-year. How is a drop of only 3% in revenue possible with such a hit in shipments? With mobile phones that are increasingly expensive.

According to data from Counterpoint, the average selling price of phones has increased by 10%. This is mainly due to the sales of premium and 5G phones, which have allowed the final bill of the market to increase despite the drop in shipments. Here Apple has a lot to say with the iPhone 14 Pro, although the consultant also points to good sales in previous generation models.

Only Apple and Xiaomi have withstood the onslaught. They are the only ones experiencing year-on-year revenue growth, while OPPO (whose numbers include OnePlus), Samsung and Vivo all fall. The cake continues to be shared with an Apple that holds more than 40% of the marketfollowed by Samsung close to 20% and a Xiaomi that now exceeds 8%.

2023 aims to be a year of uncertainty. We are approaching the “Peak smartphone”, moving away from runaway growth on a year-on-year basis. The maturity of the products, the longer life cycles that postpone their renewal and an inflation that is not fully controlled form an ideal cocktail for the mobile market to have a difficult time continuing to grow next year.