Awaiting reboot: Feature phone upgrade delay hits smartphone sales

In 2021, shipments went up substantially to 166 million only to drop again in 2022

Smartphone mobile device makers are facing a big challenge to push sales. On the one hand, shipments of feature phones are not falling as quickly as was anticipated with rese­arch agency Counterpoint projecting that they will remain at the same level this year as in CY2022, pegged at 61 million, as they were in CY2021.
 

On the other, upgrading of feature phones to smartphones is also slower and this is not helping either. Feature phone customers are either replacing their phones after a longer period or buying a cheaper secondhand smartphone. Consequently, companies selling new smartphones have seen their volume