Smartphone makers and wireless carriers have become rather sophisticated with promotions and trade-in credits on older devices that help soften the blow. According to data from IDC, average smartphone selling prices in the U.S. jumped from $409 in 2016 to $735 last year. The smartphone industry logged its first-ever decline in global unit sales in 2017, the same year those $1,000 devices began to surface. That also happened to be the first year since 2015 that Apple expanded unit sales of its smartphone by double digits; the company actually ceased reporting its own unit sales in 2018 after two years of anemic growth. Counterpoint Research estimates that they have accounted for 3% of U.S. smartphone sales so far this year.

Source: Wall Street Journal September 07, 2023 17:33 UTC