Panic sale of Huawei handsets may soon roil used phone market

NEW DELHI: Second-hand handset sellers expect panic selling of Huawei smartphones as the news of the withdrawal of Android support for the company’s new devices spreads, which is likely to lead to a sharp fall in their resale value as well.Speaking to ET, OLX said as things stand, supply of Huawei smartphones on OLX is expected to reduce and the user demand to decrease.“We expect some panic selling to take place as users will most likely sell their existing Huawei phones and switch to other brands,” a spokesperson from OLX, a leading online platform for buying and selling second-hand goods, told ET.The ban will mean that gradually the supply of Huawei smartphones on OLX will reduce over time and the user demand for the same will decrease, the spokesperson added.ET earlier reported that Huawei’s sales in India were expected to take a hit in coming days with the word spreading that Google services and support will not be available. If the word continues to spread, a panic situation may gradually arise for the existing users of these smartphones, an analyst said.“Existing users may panic after recent developments, which may lead to a significant drop in the resale value of the smartphones, while there will be some users who will buy them for they don’t understand what the ongoing issue means; imagine a high-end Huawei phone sold for peanuts,” said Faisal Kawoosa, founder and chief analyst at TechArc.However, it would be only some ‘aware and astute’ users, who would want to sell their Huawei devices early, according to Prabhu Ram, head-IIG, CyberMedia Research. “Most other users would probably be oblivious about the ramifications of the Android ban, or would be fence-sitters,” he said.As per media reports, Google will stop providing Huawei’s new devices with access, technical support, and collaboration involving its proprietary apps and services going forward. The company currently holds around 4.5% of the overall Indian smartphone market as per data from IDC. Counterpoint Research said that Huawei’s handset market share hovers around 3.5% in India.The valuation of hardware without android ecosystem won’t be a viable deal for refurbished market as the margins are already low. Until there is no other software incorporation, no refurbished platform is expected to procure or sell those phones, believes Yuvraj Aman Singh, founder & CEO of Rocking Deals, an online store of refurbished and pre-owned products.Further, online marketplaces that exchange existing phones for new might not accept Huawei phones as it will be difficult for them to resell these. Alternatively, they might reduce the offer price substantially and get them consumed in pockets where the impact of present development might not be high, say rural markets, Kawoosa said.Cashify’s co-founder and CEO Mandeep Manocha told that the company would observe the developments for next 3-4 weeks and then take a call about Huawei phones. “If the situation does not change even after 3-4 weeks, there may be some price cuts,” he said.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2X9YQnY