Brasília was the first place to receive a connection 5G in Brazil, and little by little consumers are already adhering to cell phones compatible with the technology. According to market consultancy GFK, there was a 230% growth in the sale of phones with the new generation of mobile internet between January and May 2022, compared to the same period last year.
According to the company, the main factor for the increase in sales was the availability of more affordable cell phones.
5G is the fifth generation of mobile internet technology. One of its great advantages is its speed – which can reach gigabits per second; doing that to download a movie take a few minutes – and low latency (the response time between a given command and its execution).
To exemplify the drop in price, GFK says that in the 1st half of 2021 the average price of a cell 5G was R$5,350 – at the time, there were predominantly top-of-the-line smartphones with embedded technology.
During the 2nd half of 2021, specifically during Black Friday (in November 2021), it was already possible to find 5G cell phones with prices between R$1,700 and R$2,500, most of them in the mid-range. Therefore, practically half the value of the beginning of the year, making sales results in the first five of this year much higher than in the same period of 2021.
At the time, brands like Samsung, Motorolarealme and Xiaomi started to launch more mid-range smartphones.
“With the expansion of the brands’ portfolio, prices began to fit more into the pocket of Brazilians”, says Felipe Mendes, general director of GFK for Latin America, in a press release.
According to Mendes, this process of “popularization” of a technology follows a common logic in the market. At first, new technologies arrive for electronics with higher prices, “reaching technology lovers”. After a while, “there is a democratization of the product”.
–
