The coronavirus pandemic was a gamechanger for distribution channels, with consumers turning to online shopping from the safe environment of their homes, due to lockdowns and social distancing restrictions.

That pushed online channel share of total smartphone sales from 25% in 2019, to 31% in 2020, and then to 32% in 2021. The change of consumer behaviour towards online shopping is here to stay and we forecast online share to continue growing in the next several years.

The global pandemic re-wrote the rulebook of the smartphone distribution flow, with consumers turning to different online channels to purchase devices, with pure e-retailers like Amazon and Flipkart one of the biggest winners, at the expense of some traditional channels like operators and handset retailers.