High of 23.5% in feature phones and record sales of smartphones on Black Friday contributed to last year's result. For 2020, the forecast is for an increase of 2.0% in smartphones and a fall of 3.5% in feature phones, but the dollar and coronavirus should dictate changes
In 2019, the official cell phone market registered the sale of 48.6 million handsets, an increase of 3.3% compared to 2018. This is what the IDC Brazil Mobile Phone Tracker Q4 / 2019 study, from IDC Brasil, reveals, leader in market intelligence, consultancy services and conferences with the Information Technology and Telecommunications industries. In the period, 45.5 million smartphones and 3.1 million feature phones were sold, respectively 2.2% and 23.5% more than in 2018. Revenue also grew 5.6% compared to 2018 and was R$ 56.7 billion, of which R$ 56.3 billion for the sale of smartphones and R$ 376.8 million feature phones.
“2019 was marked by the arrival of new brands in the Brazilian market and the launch - also by players already consolidated in the country - of innovative devices, with improved specifications and more sophisticated models. In other words, products that caught the attention of the end consumer, who, on average, is already on their 4th or 5th smartphone ”, says Renato Meireles, market analyst in Mobile Phones & Devices at IDC Brasil. Regarding the high sales of feature phones, the analyst at IDC Brasil attributes the need, price and confidence to the set. “In many regions, cell phones are still basically used to make and receive calls, a function that the basic device can handle. In addition, until the third quarter of 2019, the consumer was not so confident and sought feature phones because they are much cheaper ”, explains Meireles.
According to the study by IDC Brasil, the best performance in the cell phone market was registered in the second and fourth quarters of 2019. The 2nd quarter stood out because it operated normally, while in 2018 it suffered the impacts of the truckers strike. In the 4th quarter, there was an advance due to a Black Friday that broke sales records for the second consecutive time.
In relation to the average ticket, entry entry smartphones, which cost between R$ 700 and R$ 1099, were the most sold in 2019, with 22.1 million units sold, an increase of 33% compared to 2018. Super premium smartphones , above R$3000, also stood out and had the second highest increase in 2019, of 17.2%, with 3.0 million units sold.
Fourth quarter of 2020
In October, November and December 2019, just over 12 million smartphones and 773,700 feature phones were sold, up 12% and 22.4% compared to 2018, respectively. Revenue was R$ 15.3 billion, up 7.8% from 2018.
Gray market
In 2019, the gray market sold 3.8 million smartphones, up 344%, and 677,800 feature phones, down 42.3% compared to 2018. “Smartphones were the big target of the illegal market last year. With manufacturers entering the Brazilian market offering launches with more robust specifications, the consumer sought retailers who saw an opportunity to practice the illegal sale of these and other models at prices well below the market, in some cases with more than 50% of difference in relation to the price official stores. This practice led manufacturers that operate in the official market, “legal” retailers, government entities and even the Federal Police to focus on a joint effort to ban illegal sales, which resulted in losses of revenues and taxes collected ”, says the analyst of IDC Brasil. Feature phones, on the other hand, had the opposite movement. "The price of this type of device no longer induces the illegal market and, in addition, the brands took several actions in partnership with retailers to increase the visibility of feature phones in the POS".
Forecast for 2020
“So far, the forecast is that the smartphone market will reach the end of 2020 with a high of 2%, considering the consumer and investor confidence indexes, GDP and administrative and tax reforms that are to come and are positive. . For the feature phone market, the forecast is for a drop of 3.5%. The illegal market is expected to drop 39%, as a result of actions taken throughout the year. However, the fluctuation of the dollar and the coronavirus outbreak can directly impact the expected results ”, concludes the analyst at IDC Brasil, Renato Meireles.
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