Seller: Average price of LTE smartphone in Russia drops 20% by Sep

MOSCOW, Oct 28 (PRIME) -- The average price of an LTE-supporting smartphone in Russia shrank 20% on the year to 18,900 rubles as of the end of August, multi-channel retailer Svyaznoy said Friday in a statement.

“A decrease in the average price of an LTE smartphone resulted from appearance of a huge number of functional devices of high-quality on the market in medium and low-price categories. The average price of a smartphone in Russia raised almost by a quarter over the same period,” the retailer said.

The share of 4G devices in total sales of smartphones was at 49% in January–August in natural terms as compared to 21% in the same period of 2015.

LTE smartphones have debuted in the lowest price category of less than 5,000 rubles apiece in 2016. A year ago the volume of sales of the cheapest 4G devices accounted for less than 1% of all sold smartphones in this segment. As of the end of August, 10% of sold smartphones with a price tag of less than 5,000 rubles support LTE.

“If in 2015 almost 70% of all sold 4G devices in Russia cost over 15,000 rubles, the share of such devices in 2016 has slid to 50%,” Svyaznoy said.

(63.0399 rubles – U.S. $1)

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