[NTD Times, Beijing time, January 28, 2023]According to market research firm IDC, global smartphone shipments will plummet in the fourth quarter of 2022 due to weak macroeconomic and consumer demand. It’s usually an important holiday shopping season for handset makers.
Electronics companies shipped 300.3 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of October-December 2022, International Data Corporation (IDC) said in a report late on Wednesday (January 25). Department, a year-on-year decrease of 18.3%. The drop marked the largest single-season drop ever recorded.
Total smartphone shipments for the entire 2022 are down 11.3% to 1.21 billion units, the lowest annual total since 2013. “The reason for this is due to the substantial suppression of consumer demand, inflation and economic uncertainty,” IDC explained.
According to the CNBC report, Nabila Popal, research director of the International Data Corporation, said: “We have never seen a holiday quarter with shipments lower than the previous one. quarter. However, weaker demand and high inventories led suppliers to slash shipments.”
Shipments represent the number of product devices that companies such as Apple and Samsung send to retailers and mobile operators. It doesn’t equate to sales, but it does reflect changes in demand.
“The 2.8% recovery forecast for 2023 is seriously threatened by a tough finish in 2022, which is at serious downgrade risk,” said IDC.
Apple has maintained its position as the world‘s number one smartphone maker. The U.S. tech giant shipped 72.3 million iPhones in the fourth quarter, down 14.9 percent from a year earlier, according to figures released by the International Data Corporation. The decline in shipments comes despite the launch of Apple’s latest models, the iPhone 14 series, ahead of the crucial holiday quarter. Apple’s market share was 24.1%.
Apple faced a series of supply chain issues in the fourth quarter after the world‘s largest iPhone manufacturing plant in Zhengzhou, China, suffered a COVID-19 outbreak and worker protests.
Shipments of Samsung, the world‘s second largest smartphone maker, also fell 15.6% year-on-year to 58.2 million units. In the fourth quarter of 2022, Samsung did not release any brand new flagship smartphones. But sources say it may show off its new device at an event on February 1.
Chinese electronics maker Xiaomi came in third. Its shipments in the fourth quarter of 2022 were 33.2 million units, down 26.3% year-on-year. This was the biggest drop among the world‘s top five smartphone makers. Also included in the ranking are Chinese smartphone makers Oppo and Vivo.
Anthony Scarsella (Anthony Scarsella), research director at International Data Corporation, predicts: “With total shipments falling by more than 11% in 2022, 2023 will be a year of cautious action. Because suppliers will Rethink their product equipment mix, and sales channels will think twice before absorbing excess inventory.”
(Reposted from The Epoch Times/Editor in charge: Ye Ping)
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