According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Smartphone Tracker, the global smartphone market contracted by 18.3% in Q4 2022 to 300.3 million shipments.
According to IDC, electronics companies shipped 300.3 million smartphones in the October to December quarter, an 18.3% decrease year-on-year. The drop is the largest ever in a single quarter. In 2022, 1.21 billion smartphones were shipped, the lowest annual shipment total since 2013 “due to significantly dampened consumer demand, inflation, and economic uncertainties,” according to IDC.
According to IDC, smartphone vendors are being careful with shipments, with sales and promotions over the holidays consuming existing inventory rather than new shipments. All of this points to weaker consumer demand and the fact that modern smartphones have reached a capability plateau, with older models performing admirably.
“We have never seen shipments in the holiday quarter come in lower than the previous quarter. However, weakened demand and high inventory caused vendors to cut back drastically on shipments,” said Nabila Popal, research director with IDC ‘ s Worldwide Tracker team.
With 72.3 million shipments and a 24.1% market share in the fourth quarter of 2022, Apple once again led the market. Samsung came in second with 58.2 million shipped phones and a 19.4% market share. Xiaomi came in third place with 33.2 million shipments and 11% of the market, and the company saw the greatest drop in shipments compared to Q4 2021 values, at -26.3%. Oppo (25.3 million) and vivo (22.9 million) completed the top five.
The sources for this piece include an article in TheVerge.