From more than 700 brands in 2017, in 2023, this number will be only about 250. Almost all the brands that have disappeared are located in India, the Middle East, Africa, China, Japan and Korea. The number of global brands such as Samsung, Apple remains above 30.
Counterpoint Research cites several reasons behind this trend over the past seven years. The pandemic and component shortages that began in 2020 had a severe impact, while the global economic slowdown following the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022 left many small companies unable to withstand the heat.
Local brands also face many other challenges that lead to their withdrawal. For example, people are less willing to upgrade their phones, cheap devices are getting better in quality, users are shifting from 4G to 5G, and the “big guys” are taking more market share.
Another factor is refurbished phones. Refurbished sales grew 14% in 2021 compared to 5% for new phones. The difference is even more pronounced in 2022, with 5% and -12% growth, respectively.
Among the brands most regretted to disappear is LG. After six years of losses of nearly $4.5 billion, LG was forced to close its smartphone division two years ago despite owning many innovative devices.
Counterpoint predicts that many more will collapse over time, handing more power to the world’s giants. Still, smaller brands may survive by carving out niches, such as Doro, which caters to older users, and Fairphone, which focuses on easy repairability.
(According to Techspot)
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