Used device market will remain strong as new device sales plummet

Mobile phone sales will be at their lowest for a decade as coronavirus chaos continues

The coronavirus will lead to the lowest new device sales in a decade says CCS Insight.

But despite shipments of new devices falling, demand for second-hand devices remains strong.

CCS Insight vice president of forecasting Marina Koytcheva explains: “We expect more growth in the secondary market this year. In a lot of markets it will be hard for people to justify buying the top-tier products with uncertainty about employment and personal finances. So we are expecting more interest in mid-tier and refurb.

CCS analysts expect 1.57 billion mobile phones will be sold globally this year, the lowest number in a decade, as Covid-19 as demand among businesses and consumers plummets and slowdowns in supply chains and grounding of plans hits manufacturing and distribution.

But CCS has some good news. The mobile market will recover quicker than most as people now regard connectivity as crucial. But the usually-lucrative Christmas quarter will suffer a sales dip of around three per cent. Demand could bounce back 12 per cent in 2021, which would be for per cent higher than last year.

And by 2022, delayed purchases for mobile phones will result in 13 per cent growth to almost two billion phones.