Trends in Smartphone Sales Before and During COVID 19 Before COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak is a positive supply shock that has affected the growing smartphone business. Before COVID-19, most consumers were familiar with the global adoption of smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices. Manufacturers started to sell mobile phones in 2001, and since then, global use has been on a steady incline (Purwanto & Sudargini, 2021). Mobile devices have become essential for many people worldwide. The sale of smartphones in the United States before COVID-19 resulted in mass consumption of mobile devices, with many consumers upgrading from basic phones. It led to a shift in demand for smartphones with features that would allow mobile computing and video watching (Purwanto & Sudargini, 2021). The increased demand for smartphones sent their prices from low-cost devices to premium phones costing $1,000 or more (Purwanto & Sudargini, 2021). When the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world, several manufacturers reduced their phone supply and redirected their efforts to producing antiviral medication. Besides, restrictive measures resulted in the shutdown of the retail supply chains, causing a reduction in sales.
Figure 1 and Table 1 illustrate how the sales revenue of smartphones has increased rapidly in the last 20 years (Statista, 2022a). The first smartphone, launched in 2005, had $3.8 billion in sales. The sales have been on an upward trend up to 2018, when a sale revenue of $79.1 Billion was recorded (Statista, 2022a). The sales revenue remained constant from 2018 to 2020, with a slight decline in 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the sales revenue declined in 2021 to $73 Billion, with a slight recovery in 2022 (Statista, 2022a). The data on the sales of smartphones in the period 2005 to 2016 shows a steady increase in sales. It is because millions more people in different parts of the world are now connected to the Internet than before, and firms have to provide them with a product or service they want and need (Statista, 2022a). Since COVID-19 started in 2019, the sales of smartphones have dropped drastically, as shown in the first few months of 2020 and 2021, by a total of 6 billion us dollars (Statista, 2022a). However, this number has risen significantly since then. Similarly, figure 2 indicates an exponential growth rate of sales revenue between 2005 and 2018, with a high of 67% in 2007 and 53% in 2010 and 2011 (Statista, 2022a). Also, due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the growth rate declined by 2% in 2019 and 8% in 2021 and recovered by 2% in 2020. Nevertheless, the growth rate has since recovered, as a rise of 2% was recorded in 2022 (Statista, 2022a).
| Year | Smartphone sales (in Billion $) | % Change |
| 2005 | 3.8 | |
| 2006 | 5.19 | 37% |
| 2007 | 8.65 | 67% |
| 2008 | 11.39 | 32% |
| 2009 | 11.73 | 3% |
| 2010 | 18 | 53% |
| 2011 | 27.5 | 53% |
| 2012 | 33.7 | 23% |
| 2013 | 42.96 | 27% |
| 2014 | 48.87 | 14% |
| 2015 | 52.92 | 8% |
| 2016 | 55 | 4% |
| 2017 | 69 | 25% |
| 2018 | 79.1 | 15% |
| 2019 | 77.5 | -2% |
| 2020 | 79 | 2% |
| 2021 | 73 | -8% |
| 2022 | 74.7 | 2% |
Table 1: source; Statista (2022a) Smartphone sales in Billion U.S. Dollars 2005-2022
Figure 1: source; Statista (2022a) Smartphone sales in Billion U.S. Dollars 2005-2022
During Covid-19
As the pandemic continued, the sales of smartphones were significantly low after the closure of schools and government offices. Multiple setbacks have hit companies like Apple and Samsung due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The restrictive measures ensured people spent more time at home and not much time going out, so they consumed food, drinks, snacks, and non-electronic items to stock up on indoors (Xu et al., 2020). Noneth
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