2019: Year of the Budget Smartphone?

As 2018 has progressed, some interesting changes in the smartphone industry have manifested.

In July of this year, the phone manufacturer Huawei, a Chinese based company, surpassed Apple

in growth and sales. This marks the first time in seven years that the top two phone companies
in the world aren’t Samsung and Apple.

Source: https://venturebeat.com/2018/07/31/idc-smartphone-shipments-down-1-8-in-q2-2018-huawei-passes-apple-for-second-place/

This raises the question of what allowed Huawei to finally pass Apple.

The answer is surprisingly simple: Huawei moved more units over the past quarter. For years

Apple has been focused almost solely on providing the highest end smartphones, but this trend

may be coming to end. Huawei attributes their rapid growth to their “Mate” line of phones,

which range in price anywhere from $250 to $500. Over the course of 2018, the growth of this

“budget smartphone” market has boomed.

Not only has the Huawei “Mate” line of phones exploded, but so have other prominent

companies like the Oppo “R” series, all below $500, and the Xiaomi “MI” line. No longer

will consumers pay $1,000 dollars to receive technology as advanced as the dual lense camera

system. The Xiaomi MI A2 has a 12 MP dual lens rear camera and even a 20 MP front camera

all for the low price of $200 msrp.  

Source: https://www.kimovil.com/en/where-to-buy-xiaomi-mi-a2

As time moves on, technology advances and becomes cheaper, the “budget smartphone”

market will only continue to grow. Given the 2018 market, 2019 may very well become the

year of the “budget” smartphone.