Our article on the state of the Russian smartphone market in 2020 began with the heading “we are switching to budgets”. Now, after not so much time, we are talking about push-button phones. From a recent report by GS Group researchers, it follows that in the first quarter of the year, shipments of push-button phones to Russia soared by 43%, reaching the level of 2017 (3.5 million devices). Most of them fall on the brands Inoi, F + and BQ. At the same time, smartphone shipments fell 14% to 6.8 million units.

However, in reality, consumer demand for pushbuttons is stagnating: in the first quarter, they were sold 11% less than a year earlier. In other words, the surge in supplies is more likely related to an attempt by retailers to predict a new market trend, which has not yet been confirmed.

In the smartphone market, analysts expect that Xiaomi, Honor and Realme could force Apple and Samsung out of the market if they do not resume shipments. Thus, the share of Chinese smartphones in Russia may soar to 80%, while the remaining 20% will fall on the remaining official deliveries and parallel imports. At the same time, OPPO and Vivo, which have stopped deliveries to the Russian Federation, are mentioned separately, which may be supplanted by lesser-known brands. There is also a shift in the market structure: if in 2021 the ratio of budget (up to 10,000 rubles), middle peasants (up to 30,000 rubles) and expensive devices was 40-40-20%, now it is 20-60-20%.

© Vladimir Kovalev. mobile phone

According to GS Group