Smartphone market continues to dwindle

The global smartphone market continued to falter during the final quarter last year, with sales dropping by 18 per cent, for a total of 296.9 million units, according to a report released this week by industry analysts Canalys.

With demand falling, the report explained, vendors shipped fewer than 1.2 billion units last year, resulting in a 12 per cent decrease in total annual shipments.

In addition, the top five vendors in 2022 were the same as those in 2021, with Samsung managing to hold onto its spot as the leading vendor, grabbing a 22 per cent market share with 257.9 million shipments.

US tech giant Apple was in second place with 232.2 million shipments and a 19 per cent market share, despite the fact that it ended 2022 with its first-ever double-digit decline during the fourth quarter, something which has been attributed to Covid-19 restrictions and their effects on Chinese manufacturing facilities, combined with weaker demand.

Xiaomi was in third place with 152.7 million shipments and a 13 per cent market share, while OPPO and Vivo were in fourth and fifth place, claiming 10 per cent and 9 per cent market shares respectively.

“Leading markets struggled with sharp shipment declines toward the end of 2022, hitting both Samsung and Apple hard,” Canalys analyst Sanyam Chaurasia said.

“Despite showing some stabilisation in Q3, Asia Pacific and Europe suffered their worst Q4 performances in history in 2022. Stocks piled up in top markets, such as India and the People’s Republic of China (Mainland), leading to a disappointing final quarter,” he added.

Chaurasia concluded by explaining that “economic distress dented consumer spending in North and Latin America; so vendors must carefully plan their new product launches as retailers and telcos are reluctant to increase inventory levels”.