Blown away: Smartphone sales have collapsed in Russia
Smartphone sales in Russia in the first quarter of 2025 fell by more than 20% compared to the same period last year, tech sellers and experts interviewed by Izvestia said. This is the largest decline in the history of the Russian telephone market, except for force majeure in 2022, when supplies of equipment actually stopped for a month and a half, they claim. Sales of other gadgets are also falling. Izvestia's interlocutors cite the volatility of the ruble exchange rate as the reason, as well as the high key rate of the Central Bank, which has made it more profitable for citizens to invest money in deposits rather than buying gadgets. But the main thing is that due to the high demand for smartphones in 2023-2024, there are fewer people willing to buy a new gadget.
How much have smartphone sales decreased in Russia
For Russian smartphone sellers, the first quarter of 2025 was perhaps the worst in history — the sale of these gadgets fell by more than 20%, market participants interviewed by Izvestia said. Sales in units decreased by 26% and in money by 25% to 5.5 million devices worth 139 billion rubles, said a source close to one of the federal retail chains.
According to an interlocutor in another retail chain, the figures are slightly lower — according to preliminary data, smartphone sales in the Russian market decreased by 19% in monetary terms and by 21% in quantitative terms over the same period.
"In total, Russians bought 5.9 million devices for a total of 150.1 billion rubles, compared with 7.5 million devices and 186.2 billion rubles a year earlier," he notes.
The key factors in the decline in sales were the very high figures of last year, cooling consumer demand against the background of attractive interest rates from banks on deposits and a reduction in the credit market, the source told Izvestia.
At the same time, the average price of a smartphone purchased in the Russian Federation increased by 2% — from 24.7 thousand rubles to 25.2 thousand, the press service of M. told Izvestia.Video–El Dorado".
Xiaomi (Redmi), Tecno, realme, Samsung and Infinix were among the most popular brands in quantitative terms at the beginning of this year, said a representative of the combined retailer. In monetary terms, the market is led by Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi (Redmi) and Tecno.
Demand for phones is still growing on marketplaces, but the market as a whole is falling, a representative of one of them told Izvestia.
"We see a decline in the Russian smartphone market by about 15%," said Andrey Tarasov, Executive Director of diHouse.
At Wildberries, sales growth of these gadgets in the first quarter of 2025 exceeded a significant 35% in money. This is due to the rapid appearance of new products, a huge assortment, said a representative of the marketplace.
According to the commercial director of "Refrigerator.<url>" by Alexey Pogudalov, during the same period, the decline in smartphone sales is approximately 20% compared to the same period last year. A similar trend is observed in other categories of electronics such as computers and laptops, where the decrease is about 15%, he added.
In principle, the drop in sales concerns all electronics, says Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group. Smartphone sales, according to the expert, have collapsed by almost 25%.
"This is a record market drop, there has never been such a thing in history — except for force majeure in 2022, when supplies of equipment to Russia actually stopped for about a month and a half," he says.
According to experts, "Communication.ON", in the first quarter, smartphone sales as a whole fell by about 20% in units, and if we talk about expensive models, then by about 30%. This is a record drop, not counting 2022, the company agrees. A similar situation can be observed with portable electronics, laptops and tablets, they added.
Why Russians stopped buying smartphones
— There is no simple reason for the current situation, several factors influence it. A high key rate reduces smartphone sales on credit and encourages consumers not to invest in the purchase of equipment, but to place funds on deposits and savings accounts," the press service of Svyaz.ON noted. "An increase in the exchange rate affects the price at which manufacturers bring new products to the Russian market, and this in many cases prices are 10-15% higher than for similar novelties in previous years. And many are waiting for lower prices.
According to a recent survey by the company, only 8% of respondents said they wanted to change their smartphone just to upgrade it. And the more popular reasons for replacing a gadget are related to its breakdown or poor performance.
According to the retailer, 14% of respondents complained that the old smartphone is slow, it does not have enough power for games and applications, 8% noted that their devices do not have enough memory, 7% complained about a weak battery and an insufficiently high-quality camera.
— Among the possible reasons, we can note the redistribution of demand between quarters and the strengthening of the ruble, which causes some users to expect lower retail prices after a while. In general, by the end of 2025, we expect sales of 29-30 million smartphones," Andrey Tarasov from diHouse told Izvestia.
The current market situation is due to a number of reasons, and not only of a general economic nature, Megafon noted.
— Consumers actively updated smartphones in 2023-2024, and a new cycle of gadget changes has not yet arrived. The increase in the period of ownership of one gadget has an effect — now it can reach 4.5 years, although previously this figure averaged three years, the company added.
Sales are also influenced by the fact that mobile device manufacturers in recent years have constantly focused on improving the existing characteristics of their models, rather than introducing some new, breakthrough technologies, the company noted. Therefore, many smartphone owners have no incentive to urgently replace their gadgets.
This dynamic is related to the cooling effect of the economy caused by government measures to reduce consumer activity in order to combat inflation, said Alexey Pogudalov from <url>. Smartphones and computers are not essential goods and, as a rule, react immediately to such changes, he added.
— In particular, smartphone sales largely depend on consumers' willingness to upgrade their devices, even if the existing technology is still in good working order. Such purchases are often made when funds are available, rather than when they are urgently needed," the expert noted. — In addition, a significant proportion of smartphones were purchased on credit. The current level of interest rates has a deterrent effect on lending in general, which primarily affects smartphone sales.
Marvel Distribution attributes the drop in sales to an increase in the key interest rate - it is more profitable for people to put money in the bank at an interest rate than to spend cash on electronics, of course, this applies not only to smartphones.
— It is difficult to make forecasts, but the reduction in sales in units will definitely be year by year, — the company believes. — The price is likely to either rise or remain the same, because the ruble exchange rate has improved, but the issue with the rate remains.
Obviously, sales of gadgets and other electronics will decrease — perhaps growth will occur in the second half of the year, predicts Denis Kuskov, CEO of TelecomDaily. This will happen if anti-Russian sanctions are eased to one degree or another and producers from unfriendly countries return to the market, he believes. But if this does not happen, it will be difficult to avoid a recession for the whole year, the expert concluded.
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