One Third of Users Will Cut Spending on Their Next Smartphone

One in three respondents is intending to cut spending by 20% when making their next smartphone purchase, according to Counterpoint Research. With coronavirus cases surpassing 8 million globally in June and the new confirmed cases continuing to rise, all major markets saw a significant reduction in consumer spending. This will likely lead to negative smartphone sales growth globally in 2020.

To better understand consumer intentions in the smartphone market, Counterpoint Research conducted a Global Consumer Lens study across seven major smartphone markets (USA, UK, India, France, Germany, Spain, Italy). According to the results, almost half of the respondents are expecting to delay their next purchase. Respondents planning to wait before buying are the highest in India (61%). Similar intention can be seen in Spain and Italy where 58% and 56%, respectively, planned to wait longer before replacing their smartphones. In the USA, the number intending to delay buying was 41%. Germany had the fewest respondents planning to delay purchasing (34%).

“The coronavirus outbreak and future income uncertainty has affected consumer behaviour with many strictly limiting purchasing to only the essentials. Smartphone consumers from Spain and Italy are the most affected. Consumers intending to cut their future smartphone purchase budget by 20% or more are highest in Spain (27%) and Italy (25%), followed by the USA (24%). Looking at the current circumstances, we expect this trend will continue until mid-2021,“ said Pavel Naiya senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.

The anti-china sentiment is highest among Indian consumers. More than half of the respondents from India have a negative attitude towards Made-in-China products or Chinese smartphone brands. Around four in ten said that they will not buy Made-in-China products or smartphones from Chinese brands. Similarly, about one-fifth of respondents from the USA preferred not to buy Made-in-China products.