75 million smartphone sales up in smoke in Q1: Let's drill down into which brands took the most pain

Most smartphone vendors unsurprisingly experienced precipitous sales declines in the first quarter of 2020. Most, that is, except Xiaomi, which improbably managed to beat the odds by upping shipments to grab market share. The latest figures come from Gartner, which noted the total global market declined 20.2 per cent, with …

[djstardust]

Not a surprise

The Galaxy S was £400. All Samsung have done is shove £50 to £100 on each year for no real reason. The price has gone up far more than inflation.

Apple might get away with it but others won't. Samsung have taken many wrong turns against what their customers wanted and its catching up with them.

[mrdalliard]

Re: Not a surprise

I'd imagine that Apple's fortunes went relatively well due to the launch of the new iPhone SE, which by modern smartphone standards is certainly not one of the most expensive and a good few people have been waiting for a successor to the first.

As phones go, the second-generation SE is "good enough".

I'll confess I bought one for launch day. It's the first time I've done that and it's also the first "new" phone I've bought in 4 years. Given that it's got the iPhone 11's processor in there, I can imagine it'll be supported for a good few years. It's a tool for me. I don't need anything larger or with a full screen.

[Neil Barnes]

It's hard to see how a phone differentiates itself

They're pretty much like fridges or washing machines these days: no significant difference between them, and advertisers orgasming over fractions of a millimetre or pointless pixel counts, and all working like mad as to who can have the most irrelevant but expensive adverts...

the one with the 'pointlessly overpowered for its basic function' phone in the pocket, thanks --->

[Bo Lox]

Re: It's hard to see how a phone differentiates itself

And meanwhile the planet is raped and trashed, cities burn...

Wonderful this neoliberlism and associated consumerism, innit?

[Pascal Monett]

High-range phones are like high-range graphics cards

Not everyone needs one, and certainly not everyone who buys one needs one. Some people buy highly priced kit simply to show off that they can.

The fad for highly priced phones is going to wane not because of current economics, but because the new model brings next to nothing new compared to the previous model. 5G support is the only real addition of value, and you're still likely to not have a 5G network available until next year, aka next year's new model which will also, obviously, support 5G. So a reasonable buyer is going to hold on to his current model and splash for a new, 5G-enabled model when he'll actually have the chance to use it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: High-range phones are like high-range graphics cards

Which is exactly what this reasonable buyer intends to do when we get 5G locally.

Also, the 865 processor is a two chip solution. The 765 is a one chip solution. It doesn't take a genius to work out that Qualcomm's 2021 8 series products will be single chip with the advantages of lower consumption and lower cost.

[Scott Broukell]

I think that it is high time humanity embraced the concept of individuals each having a new shiny phone every month! /s

Let's all just go ahead and embrace the Fphoney Fulfillment Factor Fun! /s

[Bo Lox]

Gupta

Gupta is fairly dismissive of ... Xiaomi's strong figures...

...People won't have the confidence to splurge £1,000 (or more) on a new phone. Gupta expects that manufacturers will align their product roadmaps with this new reality, producing more devices in the $300 to $500 range...

Gupta clearly not understanding why Xiaomi gained sales unlike the others. Xiaomi are priced right where most people are prepared to fork out for a very decent spec and quality of phone, those people not being drawn in to the number of GHz, 3-4 lenses, extortionate pricing, fashion.

[hoola]

Re: Gupta

I thought Gupta was a Bond baddy in Tomorrow Never Dies......

Carvers sidekick.

[Anonymous Coward]

This is from Gartner...

Not the best track record. Should we believe any of it?

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"Show me" the money Xiaomi

Samsung don't support their phones or tablets with updates fot very long... at least you're not paying as much to be screwed if you buy Xiaomi and you're merely groped if you buy OnePlus.

[Bo Lox]

Re: "Show me" the money Xiaomi

fyi Xiaomi are very good with their updates.

[BenDwire]

Re: "Show me" the money Xiaomi

and my 3 year old OnePlus 5 has regular updates and is even getting Android 10 shortly.