After almost 60 years, Nokia’s iconic logo has undergone a refreshing and perhaps even requested renewal, but this is probably the most prominent news you will receive at MWC 2023. So if you also think that the mobile market is in its biggest coma since perhaps the 2000s – So you are not wrong. We are in the middle of the cellular exhibition in Barcelona and it seems that this year more than anything else it is simply not noticeable.
We here at TGspot have been covering the field for 16 years and I personally reported from the exhibition for 6 years in a row, until the corona epidemic arrived. But even before that, it seemed that the exhibition was in a certain decline, perhaps as a sign for the entire market. This was in the years when LG was still innovating, Sony with another impressive camera device and OnePlus with more accessible prices.
Samsung was among the first to forego announcements at the show, holding a separate event shortly before. This is how others who want to receive attention only for themselves learned and decided to hold announcements outside the exhibition and almost eliminate its exposure, at least in regards to consumer products. Add to that the fact that companies that were once popular have shrunk or disappeared completely, that there was, and actually is, an epidemic that damaged production capabilities and also global inflation – so we received a number of posters that could be saved for a conference in Yehoshua Gardens instead of an event on the scale of the largest exhibition in the world.
But the weakening of the exhibition is only the result. Beyond the fact that manufacturers decided to skip MWC, the innovations they presented in recent years were almost nothing more than the preservation of the status quo. Yes, there are some foldables that failed to bring the buzz, a little more pixels in the camera, a little more performance and maybe the screens have been improved – but that’s all. There are no significant innovations that should jump the consumer and make him pull out his wallet.
Beyond that, the polarity in the market has been growing, with on the one hand there are quite a few cheap devices that give good value, and on the other hand, the big flagship devices have passed the $1,000 mark and many will agree with me that this is really without justification. Even more so when the mid-market devices satisfy most of the users’ requirements. There are even some manufacturers, which I will not name, that recycle existing hardware as a device with a new name.
All of these bring the bottom line – customers vote with their feet and numbers don’t lie. 2022 was the weakest year in the smartphone market since 2013, with an 18.3% drop in sales during the holiday season quarter. In terms of year to year there is a decrease of 11.3% compared to 2021 and estimates are that the numbers will not be on the rise this year either.
Precisely these days, when the field of telephones is faltering, the manufacturers must take action and concentrate efforts to strengthen the market and restore the enthusiasm of consumers, and certainly at the exhibition, which is one of its important goals. I also wouldn’t be surprised if this is what will happen at E3 too because it’s already starting there too.