The smartphone market is one of the most competitive markets that a brand could be a part of. You have companies like Apple and Samsung running a duopoly on the top, and then you have a lot of other companies dreaming of playing in the major league. Now, a new report sheds light on just how bleak the market has become since 2017.
The smartphone market is an incredibly difficult environment to survive, with very few companies surviving the exploits
Based on statistics acquired from Counterpoint Research, 2023 only has 250 active smartphone brands. This might seem like a massive number, but when you look at the fact that there were over 700 smartphone brands back in 2017, the results start to look shocking as you see how the market has shrunk in just 6 years. The firm has added that the decline was almost entirely faced by the local brands, with over the global brands staying above 30.
The research mentions how there are several smartphone brands that shut down in India, the Middle East, Africa, China, Japan, and even Korea.
From the list of smartphone brands that are no longer in the market, LG and Kyocera were locally available. Some of them were brought by larger brands, but it is safe to say that teh smaller companies actually ended up suffering a lot more than the larger companies but are still managing to go through the storm.
Counterpoint Research even mentioned a number of challenges that smartphone brands faced that caused their untimely shutdown. For instance, users started maturing, the replacement cycles lengthened, and the refurbished market saw growth. There were also supply chain issues, economic downturns, technological changes, and the ability of major manufacturers to manufacture phones at massive scales.
The sad point here is that the company has mentioned how there are more smartphone brands that will go through this decrease, but small manufacturers could survive by selling their devices for a premium, but even then, they will have to offer something unique, something that other companies are not offering. Take Fairphone, for instance. Even though the brand is not massive by any means, it is still offering a lot of things that big-name brands are not even thinking about at the moment.
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