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Has the High-End Smartphone Market Peaked?

Rutberg analyst Ratjeev Chand sees replacement cycles lengthening and prices coming down.

Ina Fried

With cellphones having gotten pretty darn powerful and as big as a hand can possibly hold, will consumers hang onto their devices for longer and be less willing to pay for high-end devices?

“I think the answer to both those questions is yes and yes,” Rutberg analyst Ratjeev Chand said Wednesday, speaking at his company’s global summit in Atlanta.

Chipmaker ARM, too, has forecast far slower growth for high-end smartphones than for the rest of the market.

Not surprisingly, Qualcomm executive chairman Paul Jacobs rejected the idea that the premium smartphone market’s best days are behind it. He pointed to the coming arrival of LTE-broadcast, wireless charging and dramatically cheaper data access as ensuring continued innovation.

“Do you like everything about your smartphone?” Jacobs asked. “The answer is no you don’t.”

That said, Jacobs admitted that consumers may be less willing to pay top dollar for a phone.

“It’s conceivable that high-end ASPs (average selling prices) come down,” Jacobs said.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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