Mobile phones
Forecast: Number of smartphones sold in Germany is falling
Smartphones in an electronics store. Photo: Armin Weigel/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
90 percent of mobile phone owners in Germany can hardly imagine life without their smartphone. However, this is not reflected in increasing sales figures.
More and more people in Germany use a smartphone. But at the same time fewer and fewer new devices are being sold. This is the result of a market forecast by the digital association Bitkom, which was published in Berlin on Thursday.
According to this, the number of smartphone users this year will increase from 79 percent of Germans aged 16 and over to 83 percent. That corresponds to 57.4 million people and an increase of 1.4 million.
According to the forecast, sales of new devices will fall below the 20 million mark for the first time in many years. In 2020, sales fell slightly by 0.8 percent to 22 million devices. In 2021, 20.4 million new smartphones found a buyer. For the current year, Bitkom predicts a drop of 3.9 percent to 19.7 million devices.
There are two trends behind it
However, the drop in sales is largely offset by sales because buyers are turning to more expensive devices. According to the forecast, sales will only fall slightly from 11.0 billion euros to 10.9 billion euros – also because the average price for a new smartphone will increase by 14 euros to 553 euros.
Telefónica Deutschland boss Markus Haas, member of the executive committee at Bitkom, blamed two trends for the decline in sales. On the one hand, due to the ongoing chip supply crisis, a number of models are not available in the desired quantities. On the other hand, a trend towards sustainability can be seen, said Haas: “The desire for current smartphones with the best technology is great, but compared to previous years, the devices are replaced later on average. So when in doubt, consumers prefer to spend more money to make sure they can use their devices for longer.”
Overall, the industry cannot complain about the economic development in the Corona crisis. Bitkom expects that the sales in the smartphone industry will remain at the high level of 2021 in the second year of Corona: In 2022, the industry in Germany is expected to generate sales of 36.8 billion euros – 600 million euros more than last year . Data and voice services account for the largest share of sales with 20.6 billion euros. According to the Bitkom forecast, the app market will grow to EUR 3.3 billion.
Criticism of new contract rules
The association was dissatisfied with the legal framework. The most recent amendments to the right of termination, which fitness clubs and other companies have also complained about, met with criticism. In the past, anyone who wanted to cancel their mobile phone contract had to pay attention to deadlines so that the provider received the cancellation at least three months before the end of the contract – otherwise the contract was usually extended by a whole year. Customers can now cancel their mobile phone contract on a monthly basis once the minimum term has expired.
Haas referred to the relatively high average price of 553 euros for new cell phones and the maximum prices that people in Germany actually want to spend on their new smartphones. For the “desired price”, the average is only 232 euros. «The low desired prices can be explained by the attractive combination of device financing and tariffs from mobile phone companies. However, the limitation of the contract period by the legislator puts this price model under pressure. »