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Aussie smartphone sales to face trouble after ‘bumper’ six months

Apple continues 24-month long domination streak over Android.

Australian smart phone sales were up four per cent year-on-year for the first six months of the year, but this “bumper performance” won't last, new research has claimed.

According to analyst firm Telsyte’s Australian Smartphone & Wearable Devices Market Study 2021-2025 report, Apple maintained its market share dominance over Android in the country in the six months to 30 June, which it has held for the last two years.

As such, Apple was the top smartphone vendor for the half-year, followed by Samsung and Oppo, with an increase in popularity noted for Google’s Pixel, Motorola, realme and Vivo devices.

Regardless, four million devices were sold in total during the period, with the firm claiming the market experienced a “bumper performance”.

The second half of the year however isn’t expected to be so lucky, with a forecast of 4.5 million smartphones to be sold in the six months to 31 December — a one per cent year-on-year decline.

The reasons behind this expected drop are global chip shortages and a slowdown in consumer spending off the back of high demand, the firm claimed.

“Demand for tech products, including smartphones, has been above trend since the start of the pandemic and the heightened sales of digital devices observed during the past 18 months is expected to slow,” said Telsyte managing director Foad Fadaghi.

Meanwhile, smartphone prices are on the rise with costs now reaching $780 on average, an increase of 12 per cent year-on-year, with demand for iPhone 12 models considered to be the main contributing factor.

If the smartphone market follows Telsyte’s prediction, this will total 8.5 million smartphone devices sold in 2021 in total — higher than 2020’s 8.38 million and 2019’s 8.44 million.