Phone makers are concerned about the increasing lifespan of smartphones in South Korea
While less people in South Korea are snapping up the latest smartphones as they come out, manufacturers like Samsung are allowing older models to be traded in with credit going towards the purchase of newer models
By Baek Byung-yeul
Hyun, a 36-year-old office worker living in Seoul, had long been one to buy the latest smart devices. But since he changed his smartphone to Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge two years ago he stopped purchasing new phones because he feels that it is still sufficiently convenient.
“With Galaxy S7, I can use its mobile payment service. Its design is still attractive and the phone has a long battery life. There is no reason for me to purchase a new smartphone,” Hyun said.
Even though manufacturers have been rolling out new high-end smartphones every year, fewer people are buying new smartphones. Hyun is part of those who are not.
According to research by Strategy Analytics, smartphone sales in the world topped 1.5 billion units for the first time in 2017 but overall sales were up by only 1.3 per cent from the year before.
This is much decreased from sales in 2016. The percentage of the overall sales had hit double digits in 2015 but plunged to 3.3 per cent in 2016.
Another research agency, Gartner, reported that smartphone sales hit nearly 408 million phones in the fourth quarter of 2017, a 5.6 per cent decline over the fourth quarter of 2016. The agency said this is the first year-on-year decline since it started tracking the global smartphone market in 2004.