Research firm: Global smartphone deliveries slumped in fourth quarter

Smartphone shipments worldwide fell 15.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the same quarter a year earlier. Fewer smartphones were also shipped than Q3 2022; normally it is the other way around.

Research agency Omdia reports this based on its own research, which is largely in line with the findings of IDC. In absolute terms, Apple had the largest share in this quarter with 74 million shipments. It also performed well from Q3 to Q4, with an increase of 41.6 percent. Still, Q4 2022 turned out bad for Apple in a way; the company shipped 13.3 percent fewer smartphones than a year earlier, causing Apple to lose its streak of eight quarters of steady growth, Omdia said. The research agency does not blame inflation for this, but the corona lockdown that the Foxconn factory had to deal with.

Samsung also has to deal with fewer deliveries; this company saw a decline of 15.4 percent from last year and a decline of 8.8 percent from Q3 2022. In absolute numbers, Samsung shipped 58 million smartphones in the fourth quarter.

Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi all experienced drops of more than 25 percent. Xiaomi remains at number 3 in the ranking with 33 million shipments in Q4. Transsion and Honor delivered 17 million and 14 million copies respectively and are quite stable; deliveries fell by no more than a million units.

The biggest drop from a major manufacturer is the one at spot 8 on this list: Realme. It delivered 11 million copies in Q4, a decrease of 31.5 percent from a year earlier. Omdia points to the disappointing Chinese sales market, the tense relationship with the Indian government and the ‘turbulence on the Eastern European market’ as reasons for the figures. Motorola, in 9th place, had to deal with a decrease of 10.4 percent compared to a year ago and is therefore the best off together with Apple.

Looking at the whole year, Omdia reports a decrease of 9.9 percent in deliveries. 1.34 billion smartphones were shipped in 2021 and 1.2 billion in 2022. Omdia has its report posted online.