With a turnover of €300m, the telecom business passed the test and increased by +3.4%. The one factor to blame for this slowdown is the most important product within the Telecom Market, the smartphone, which only gained a tiny 1%.
Why is the smartphone market slowing down that much?
Since the launch of the first touchscreen smartphone in 2007, it has not really changed that much. Yes, we had some upgrades and improvements like a bigger screen and a fingerprint scanner. It also became faster and thinner with a better camera and OS upgrades and here and there we had an interesting upgrade and some good improvements but nothing really mind-blowing and above all, it is still looking the same: a rectangle with a touchscreen. The added value is not high enough to convince the Belgian consumers to replace their (old) device.
Another explanation for the Smartphone Market slowing down is the strong growth of the headsets (+38% in value) and the wearables (+88% in value) markets. Especially the latter has the biggest impact on the smartphone market. The Belgian consumers are upgrading their smartphones by adding a new feature, the smartwatch.
Chris Renders – Consultant Consumer Electronics & Telecom