Monthly Mobile Phone Pricing Index

Average Advertised Pricing have been declining steadily in 2020 with more Rapid Declines in July through September 2021, According To IDC’s Mobile Phone Pricing Index

NEEDHAM, Mass., September 27, 2021 – The Mobile Phone Pricing Watch from International Data Corporation (IDC) reviewed roughly a million advertised Mobile Phone prices across more than 1,100 resellers in nearly 80 countries from January 2020 through September 2021, and found that Average Advertised Prices (AAP) were down just over 6% by the end of 2020, and after some stability in early 2021 had the steepest decline since July 2021.

Regionally the trends in Average Advertised Pricing varied slightly. In the USA, although Average Advertised Pricing was increasing through most of 2020, it has been decreasing in 2021, with the strongest decline in August of -20% from the baseline period. Most other regions, like Canada, Latin America, Japan and Western Europe, also saw similar trends. However, in Latin America the strongest declines were in beginning of 2021 with a slowdown in the decline by June. In contrast, in Japan, Average Advertised Pricing after increased minimally in 2020, surged in 2021 with strongest peaks in June and July with 13% and 16% increase then started to decline in August by -7%. China saw declining Average Advertised Pricing through most of 2020 but saw some increase from April 2021 then turned into zero growth in September 2021. Middle East and Africa is the only region which saw consistent increase in prices since April 2021 through September 2021.

Among the top vendors, Apple saw the strongest drops in Average Advertised Pricing with double digit declines from March 2021 to August 2021 between 11.6-20.6%. Xiaomi declined the least, hitting a low in December 2020 before rising above the baseline period in April 2021, and following a slow through June then started a larger drop in July and August 2021. Overall all vendors saw the drops in Average Advertised Pricing during the second half of 2020 and into 2021, vivo saw Average Advertised Pricing recovered a bit in the past two months but a deeper decline in September 2021.

IDC Pricing Watch products provide detailed monthly updates on advertised pricing that support product, channel, and go-to-market management.

IDC’s Mobile Phone Pricing Watch gathers data in nearly 80 countries and provides detailed, timely, and accurate information on Mobile Phone device pricing using a Pricing Index among other analysis. The Pricing Watch covers the core technology dimensions in IDC’s market leading Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker – plus additional details on channels and other dimensions in monthly updates. The Pricing Watch is a valuable resource for strategic pricing and operations in the Mobile Phone market globally. For more information, or to subscribe to the research, please contact Kathy Nagamine at 650-350-6423 or knagamine@idc.com.