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Why The Smartphone Market Is Crashing Fast

It seems like just yesterday that smartphones were all the rage. Apple and Samsung releases were met with enthusiasm from loyal fan bases, and memes galore pushing one brand over another regularly circulated. Now the smartphone market is seeing a dramatic fall in interest. The second quarter of 2022 saw new phone shipments fall 9% in comparison to the same period of the previous year. This is not insignificant. In fact, it is almost certainly a sign that the market is collapsing as a whole.

The question is; why? According to Canalys, a Singapore based research firm, it all comes down to a dramatic decrease in interest, as well as a struggling global economy. Another way to put it is that the world in general is simply no longer keen on getting a new smartphone.

Nothing New Upcoming

There are few industries that have evolved as fast as smartphones. From clunky analogue devices, to those with touchscreens and fingerprint scanners, it almost seemed to happen overnight. Initially there was plenty of reason to want a new phone, given all the new bells and whistles. After all, who wanted a device with 640p resolution when HD now available?

But it wasn’t long before the innovations came to a screeching halt. Nothing particularly interesting was being introduced, simply because there was nothing new left to introduce. A phone model from years ago is not very different from a new release today, begging the question as to why anyone would bother spending more money.

This glass ceiling happened with the PC market, and the same thing is happening to the mobile phone market. To put it another way; the average user only wants to play online Blackjack real money, and that can be done on a decade old device.

As The Market Stands

The situation has been made dramatically worse by a struggling global economy. The biggest current smartphone demand is towards low end models, leaving Samsung and Apple with unsold stock and a big problem. Samsung is still the leader with a 21% share, Apple is second with a 17% share, and smaller Chinese based companies continue to fight it out below.

If the current decline continues it likely won’t be long before the tech giants begin to cut costs, which will only accelerate an already severe decline. Though, there is still the chance of a bounce back, depending on what the future holds.

Next Big Thing

What the industry really needs is a new big thing. Buyers aren’t interested in the current catalogue of devices, but what if something revolutionary came along? Word is that both Samsung and Apple are pouring millions into development, and both have ideas about what the future will look like.

There is nothing definitive yet, but a new technological leap could be the key to reviving the sinking ship. It is simply a matter of waiting to see if the tech giants can produce an innovation big enough to rekindle interest.

 

 

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