Surprisingly, after years of prosperity in the medium and low range, now the mobile phones that sell the most are those with the highest price.
It won’t surprise you, but the pandemic was a very good time for technology companies. We spent more time at home, we subscribed to all possible streaming platforms, we had to change our laptop to be able to work from home or buy a tablet to study with it. And mobile phones? What happened to cell phones?
Mobile purchasing preferences remained more or less stable. In short, we spent the day at home, the famous chip supply problems and, later, the problems on the assembly lines due to the damn virus.
But now, in 2023, we are seeing fewer and fewer mobile phones being sold. The kings of sales, the cheapest mobile phones, are on the decline. Mid-range mobile phones, between 300 and 500 euros, have the same problem. But there is a village populated by irreducible mobile phones that resists this trend: the most expensive ones you can find.
That’s right, according to a study by the consulting firm OMDIA worldwide, the best-selling mobile phone during the first six months of 2023 was the iPhone 14 Pro Max, its most expensive model.
It is not surprising that it is an iPhone, Apple always achieves the top positions in these best-seller lists thanks to its position in the US and China. The strange thing is that it is the most expensive mobile phone, the one that exceeds 1,000 euros.
According to the same consultancy, the best-selling mobile phone the previous year was the iPhone 13, the standard model, much cheaper.
No brand from China appears in the Top 10 of global sales, even Xiaomi, which is always among the best sellers in Spain, has disappeared from the list.
Industry sources in Spain consulted by Computer Today They also confirm the trend. The mid-range and low-range are in the doldrums. It is the high range where they see a better business, and it is in those mobile phones that exceed 500 or 600 euros where they have the highest income margin. Furthermore, brands believe that only in this category can they differentiate themselves from the competitionhence the push in folding mobile phones that we are seeing in recent years.
With a recession scenario always looming, the war in Ukraine and the economic ups and downs of a lifetime, most of us can only do one thing, hold on to our cell phone until the moment it no longer works.
There is hope in the second hand
Among all those people who are about to buy a new mobile phone, it seems that the trend is not to be content with a cheap mobile phone, but opt for a high-end mobile phone, even if it is second-hand.
There is hope in the second hand, especially in mobile phones like the iPhone or the latest Samsung Galaxy S.
Platforms like Back Market confirm to us that their best-selling phones are always previous generation iPhones, like the iPhone 13. You can even see how the best sellers are the iPhone 12 or Galaxy S21, which are from two generations ago.
The buyer’s thinking has changed radically, they no longer want to save as much as possible, what they are looking for is a good mobile phone from a recognized brand and if they have to go through the second-hand reuse box, they have no problem.
There are stores, like Amazon, that offer second-hand products in very good condition at lower prices and with a one-year warranty.
It is a bleak panorama for those brands that arrived in Spain three or four years ago in order to burst the market with the cheapest possible mobile phones. In these cases, they bet on selling more high-end mobile phones, they leave their mid-range with almost no profit margin in search of improving their image or, as could happen in some recognized brand, they could leave Spain.
Are you going to buy one of the most expensive mobile phones on the market or are you going to buy it second-hand? In Computer Today we can help you. First you can review our cell phone reviews or visit what we consider to be the best second-hand cell phones.