A 20% drop in phone shipments is a big number, and it’s a good reason to think twice before assuming next year’s phones will be cheaper. I have been calling out the increase in chip prices over the past quarter. Now we have numbers showing that the tech market (specifically smartphones) is slowing down. But price increases in other consumer products and services (think about streaming services) are probably hitting consumers where it hurts, obviously, the wallet.
Yet tech companies still need to innovate and push hardware, software, and services, and folded into these announcements, either subtly or, more likely, not so subtly, is that the prices of these new shiny tech objects have increased as well. Competition for share of wallet is extremely high right now as consumers focus on more essential products and services like gas, food, and housing.
I’m thinking it may be a bit of a bleak tech holiday shopping season. The smartphone slump is the first indicator, and I think more upcoming statistics may point to similar trends.