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.

This is reported by research agency Omdia based on its own research, which is largely in line with the IDC Findings. 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 eight-quarter streak of steady growth, Omdia said. The research agency does not blame inflation for this, but the corona lockdown that the Foxconn factory faced.

Samsung will also face fewer deliveries ; this company saw a decrease of 15.4 percent compared to last year and a decrease of 8.8 percent compared to 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; shipments dropped by no more than a million units.

The biggest drop at a major manufacturer is the one at number 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 still the best off together with Apple.

Looking at the whole year, reports Omdia 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.