During the first three months of this year in the Russian market, sales of smartphones in unit terms have sharply decreased. The last time such a significant negative trend was recorded more than five years ago – in 2015.

Employees of several large Russian retail chains spoke about the record decline in demand for smart cellular devices, as reported by the Vedomosti newspaper. In addition, the GfK company recorded the fall in the market.

According to preliminary estimates of MTS, in the first quarter of 2021, sales of smartphones in Russia decreased on an annualized basis by 8,8% in units.

GfK gives an even more negative assessment: from the first week of January to the first week of March, the demand for smart cellular devices in the Russian market collapsed by 14%. Two more Russian retail chains received similar data – the figure is minus 13%.

It should be noted that negative dynamics in the smartphone market in Russia was also recorded at the end of 2020. According to estimates by the International Data Corporation (IDC), shipments of devices amounted to 30,376 million units, a decrease of 7,6% compared to 2019. It is noted that this is the worst result since 2017.