A new study by Strategy Analytics looks into handset retail prices over time, suggesting that major brands have a positive impact on handset retail values.
According to the research company, smartphones have a retail lifecycle of around two years by the end of which most brands have reduced product retail pricing by 34% on average, although there are notable exceptions like the original Samsung Galaxy S, Apple iPhone 4 and the HTC Wildfire.
As one of the first superphones, Galaxy S was well positioned to hold its price through the early part of its lifecycle due to fewer competitors. Prices of Apple’s iPhone on the other hand tend not to become discounted due to a tightly managed product branding strategy which focuses on premium smartphones. Finally, the HTC Wildfire shows an extraordinarily low depreciation rate, even though it’s an entry-level smartphone.
The crop of second generation smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S II, Nokia N8, LG Optimus and BlackBerry Curve 3 8520 have similar price depreciation rates 12-24 months after their launches. Another influencing factor would be vendor’s handset portfolio refresh rate impacting on the retail value of existing products and this will be the focus of a later study…
[Via: CellularNews]