Sales of high end smartphones, the most expensive, will fly in 2° quarter

In addition to maintaining much of its focus on the business segment, the BlackBerry sees another route of retail growth in the Brazilian market, more specifically with the Z10 model, available in the country since May. The company's strategy, however, will be focused on a very specific user profile: consumers seeking more sophisticated devices, also known in the industry as the high-end device, which presents opportunities more attractive profit margins. Among the manufacturers who invest in this rich vein in the country are Apple, Samsung and LG Electronics.
According to data from IDC consulting, the high-end market represented 16% of the total sales of smartphones in the Brazilian market in the first quarter, compared with an 18% share in the last quarter of 2012. In terms of volume, however, the category has recorded sales of 860 thousand units between January and March, compared to 840 thousand units at the end of last year. Consulting ranks in this segment with devices in retail price from $ 1,299. With agreements with the four major carriers operating in Brazil, the Z10, BlackBerry, began to be marketed with prices starting at $ 2,499. "The Z10 has just entering at the top of the high end models, over r $ 2 thousand, whose devices accounted for 2% of sales of higher end models in the first quarter," said Leonardo Munin — IDC Brazil's market analyst. Munin points out that this specific range of appliances has been showing a surprising growth in the Brazilian market this year, a trend that gained even more strength in the second quarter. IDC has not yet consolidated the sales númeres for the range from April to June in the country. However, the analyst points out that the scenario at the top of the high end repeats the same panorama observed in other categories, including in the global market, with wide domain of Apple and Samsung, despite the progress achieved by the South Korean LG in recent months. "I see the BlackBerry very focused on corporate niche, but it's hard to say if the company will have the strength to resume its strength in terms of consumers," says Munin.
Apart from BlackBerry will face challenges, the competition in the Smartphone market is fiercer in terms of devices with prices up to $ 700. This track was 61% of sales in the first quarter, according to IDC. In this category, Munin highlights the investment of several manufacturers to expand its product portfolio, in addition to the entry of new competitors, such as Smokergrillsblackfriday, gradient and national CCE, this last with the strengthening of Chinese acquisition of Lenovo. Under this scenario, IDC projects that Brazil will align to the global trend, in which smartphones should overcome the common cellular base — the so-called feature phones — until the end of 2013. In the first quarter, a consulting released the projection that the country would close the year with smartphones representing 45% of total sales. "With the second-quarter numbers, we will have to revise these predictions, especially with the greater supply of more affordable devices, which begins to crush the market for feature phones," says Munin.
In 2012, sales of smartphones grew 78% in the Brazilian market, totaling 16 million units, compared with 43.5 million feature phones.