If you feel like upgrading your phone is putting a massive dent in your wallet lately, you are definitely not alone. The latest market numbers from research firm Omdia show a dramatic shift in the European mobile landscape. For the first time ever, the average price for a smartphone in Europe has climbed to a whopping €580.
The reason behind this price surge is pretty simple: cheap phones are actively disappearing. Devices that cost under €200 reached an all-time low, making up just a quarter of all shipments this quarter. Instead of flooding the market with budget hardware, phone brands are shifting their focus to premium devices, hunting for higher profit margins from buyers who are willing to spend more.
Apple and Motorola surge in Europe while Xiaomi trades volume for premium value
Despite the record-high prices, the European market actually grew by 2% overall, moving around 33 million units.
Samsung was able to retain its crown at the top of the chart. Interestingly, the brand had to rely heavily on aggressive discounts for its budget-friendly Galaxy A16 4G to keep its numbers up. This move helped to alleviate some major launch delays for its much-anticipated next-gen devices such as the Galaxy S26, A57 and A37.
Right behind them, Apple had a great quarter, growing its iPhone shipments by 9%. The premium iPhone 17 series and cheaper alternatives—like the iPhone 15 and 16e—kept the cash registers ringing without the firm having to offer deep discounts.
Meanwhile, Xiaomi took a different path. The company quickly encountered supply chain headaches, reducing its overall shipment volume by 15%. They managed to increase their average selling price by 21% The company grew their total value despite selling fewer individual boxes by focusing on more premium models such as the Xiaomi 17 and 15T.
The rising underdogs and a rocky future
Further down the ranks, the competition is getting fierce. Motorola grew by a healthy 17% thanks to rapid expansion in Spain and Portugal. OPPO also made a solid 9% comeback in France while busy restructuring its brand to bring both realme and OnePlus under one unified strategy. The absolute speed runner of the quarter, however, was Honor, which exploded with over 60% growth by launching cheaper models to capture the budget audience everyone else is abandoning.
Enjoy this steady stream of new hardware while you can, because a stormy season is brewing. Omdia warns that a severe global memory component shortage is getting worse by the day. This bottleneck will likely cause a harsh 12% market drop later this year, mostly hitting during the autumn and winter months. Retailers are currently stockpiling as many devices as possible to avoid running out of stock, but a price correction is bound to happen once the component chaos finally cools down.
The post Smartphone Prices Hit a Record High in Europe as Cheap Devices Fade Away appeared first on Android Headlines.
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