Two companies still dominate smartphone sales, but it’s been a tough year

Apple and Samsung are once again the top smartphone makers by market share, but it’s also been a year when supply shortages and slowing sales hampered the industry as a whole.

Technology analyst Canalys reports that global smartphone shipments fell 17% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2022, down 11% to just under 1.2 billion for the full year.Analyst IDC quote Industry shipped 1.24 billion smartphones Increase in 2022, no growth in 2023.

However, Apple’s iPhone reached an all-time high of 25% market share in the fourth quarter. Since 2020, he’s traded the top spot with Samsung twice, both in Q4 to coincide with his September launch of a new iPhone.

Samsung, which is widely expected to launch the Galaxy S23 series on February 1st, finished the quarter with a 20% global share. Third place is Xiaomi with 11%, Oppo with 10% and Vivo with 8%.

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According to Canalys, this quarter was the worst fourth quarter performance for smartphone shipments in a decade.

It’s not just smartphones that are struggling. PC shipments are also stagnant as consumers and businesses are spending less. 2022 full-year PC shipments Achieved 286.2 million units, down 16.2% from 2021, according to analyst Gartner. His PC shipments for Q4 2022 fell 28.5% year-over-year. This is the largest decline Gartner has recorded since it began tracking his PC market in the mid-1990s.

The decline could be partially explained by COVID-19-related supply chain issues in China in the first quarter, but even as retailers are wary of carrying too much excess inventory. I have. In November, Apple Chaos at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou iPhone assembly plantApple has warned that shipments during the holiday season will fall short of expectations due to disruptions.

“Smartphone vendors have struggled in a challenging macroeconomic environment throughout 2022, with Q4 posting their worst annual and Q4 results in a decade.” Canalys Research Analyst Runar Bjørhovde said:.

“Channels have been very cautious about accepting new inventory, which contributed to the decline in shipments in the fourth quarter. The performance of the market in Q4 2022 is in stark contrast to Q4 2021, which saw a surge in demand and an easing of supply issues.”

Canalys predicts that smartphone growth in 2023 will be flat to marginal.

Samsung still holds the top spot in annual shipments, with a 22% share compared to Apple’s 19% share.

Shipments of new smartphones are slowing as shipments of used and refurbished smartphones hit record highs. IDC expects second-hand smartphone shipments to rise 283 million in 2022 to 413 million in 2016The used segment increased as vendors such as Samsung and Apple used trade-in programs to drive sales of newer models.