China in the city: prices for smartphones from China dropped to 20%

Due to the strengthening of the ruble, prices for many types of electronics decreased by 5-20% in March, market participants told Izvestia. The largest markdown occurred on small electronics, in particular, smartphones of Chinese brands, they claim. The Russian electronics market is currently experiencing a downturn, and competition is high, which encourages vendors to invest in advertising and marketing, experts say. According to them, there are also concerns about the possible return of departed electronics brands to the market.

Why are Chinese brands cutting prices?

Prices for Chinese smartphones decreased by 20% in the first weeks of March, market participants told Izvestia. At the same time, manufacturers from China have increased their advertising and marketing activities, they claim.

— Over the past two weeks, the cost of some Chinese brand models in the MTS retail chain has decreased from 5% to 20%. This is due to marketing campaigns during the gender holidays," the company's press service noted.

The average price of Chinese smartphones is now lower than at the end of last year, and over the past two weeks it has dropped to 24.8 thousand, according to Marvel Distribution. Unit sales in January-February 2025 decreased by 19.1% year-on-year. If you look separately by brand, Redmi, Infinix, Tecno are losing sales, but realme, Honor, Poco and Huawei, on the contrary, are increasing them, the company said.

Due to the strengthening of the ruble, prices for various types of electronics have been declining over the past month, but this decline is uneven, Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group, told Izvestia. For small electronics — smartphones, watches, headphones, they decreased by 20%. Prices for large electronics, such as televisions, decreased by 5-7%, the expert noted.

In a lull, manufacturers use various ways to sell off inventory, including through partner support through promotional programs, trade marketing, marketing campaigns, and sales, according to Marvel Distribution.

According to the commercial director of "Refrigerator.<url>" by Alexey Pogudalov, there is an increase in marketing activity on the part of some brands. For example, Honor, Huawei and realme showed the greatest growth and activity this year, doubling their share of the smartphone market compared to last year. This indicates that some manufacturers are indeed increasing investments in marketing and promotion, he points out.

"We see increased advertising activity, especially in terms of smartphone promotions of Chinese brands," said a representative of one of the online trading platforms.

Wildberries notes a "statistically significant decrease in prices" for smartphones of Chinese brands, while in physical terms their sales increased by almost a third over the past week, in turn, said a representative of the marketplace. This is partly due to the strengthening of the ruble, he believes.

"The retail price of smartphones is influenced by many factors and depends on the policies of the vendor, importer, retailer and the general conditions of the electronics market," the Megafon press service noted.

In particular, lower prices may be influenced by the appearance of new models, the strengthening of the ruble compared to the beginning of the year, or promotions by individual manufacturers, which usually occur in the first and fourth quarters. Sometimes retailers arrange sales of individual items below cost to increase overall attendance at their outlets, in case of store closures, or to urgently fulfill a plan, his representative notes.

The beginning of the second quarter in the Russian smartphone market is traditionally a "low season" when demand is falling, and sellers are forced to use various incentive tools: advertising campaigns, price promos, and more, Andrey Tarasov, executive director of diHouse, told Izvestia.

"In the current conditions, the advantage in such stimulating activities lies with those manufacturers who are present in one form or another on the Russian market and can afford, sometimes jointly with retailers and distributors, to finance, among other things, an "artificial" price reduction for some models," he says.

Earlier, market participants told Izvestia about the decrease in the cost of laptops. In January-February of this year, compared to the last months of 2024, the cost of these gadgets, primarily expensive models (including Apple MacBooks), decreased by 10-20%. According to sellers, in the first months of 2025, the sale of laptops decreased by 20-30%: a decrease in demand affected the segment of 50-150 thousand rubles.

How Retailers Boost Smartphone Sales

The decrease in prices for electronics, in particular smartphones, may be due to stabilization after the seasonal surge in sales before the gender holidays and the growing supply on the market — more and more Russians prefer devices from Chinese brands, said Pavel Komarov, head of the Electronics and Home Appliances business at Avito.

The share of Chinese smartphones in the Russian market continues to grow: if in January-February 2024 they occupied 80% in units and 46% in money, then in the first two months of 2025 they already accounted for 81% in units and 53% in money, Avito said.

Market participants interviewed by Izvestia note that, in general, due to rising exchange rates and the high Central Bank rate, the Russian electronics market is now stagnating: on the one hand, purchasing power is declining, on the other, people are increasingly sending money to bank deposits rather than buying electronics. This forces retailers and manufacturers to stimulate sales, including by lowering prices and increasing advertising activities.

But there is another factor — in light of a possible change in the geopolitical situation, manufacturers from China are seriously considering the possibility of officially resuming supplies of Samsung equipment to Russia and returning the huge advertising budgets of the South Korean corporation, according to a source in a partner company of several electronics manufacturers. This forces Chinese companies to increase investments in advertising and promotion of their products in retail chains. For example, one of the largest brands launched an advertising campaign on Russian TV this year, he said. Hence the decrease in prices for smartphones from China, he adds.

A source close to one of them also says that vendors from China consider the alleged resumption of Samsung supplies to the Russian market and the start of a full-fledged advertising campaign as one of the risks. Eldar Murtazin agrees with this. The possible development of events really encourages vendors to lower prices and increase marketing budgets, he noted. But Samsung is not the only and not the main reason for such activity, the expert said. Currently, the Russian electronics market is really stagnating due to the unfavorable macroeconomic situation, and competition between vendors from China is very strong, so increasing investment in promotion on their part is logical, he believes.

Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Samsung declined to comment.

— Before its official departure from Russia, Samsung was the largest advertiser in key media. According to Digital Budget, Samsung Electronics ranked in the top thirty advertisers in online advertising in 2021. According to Mediascope, on television, the Korean company's own budgets (excluding dealer advertising) allowed it to remain in the top 150 advertisers. It was also noticeable in outdoor advertising," said Timur Bordyug, editor—in-chief of the AdPass advertising and marketing portal.

In his opinion, manufacturers will not be able to react to the intensification (resumption) of Samsung's advertising activity. When it becomes clear which media channels he will use to restore his position in Russia, competitors will obviously have to adjust their strategies, the expert concluded.