The recent global economic crisis has surely taken a toll on the smartphone industry as recent reports indicate that the global smartphone market has been experiencing a decline going on since the last 5 quarters.
According to reports by Insider Intelligence, the global smartphone market has fallen by 12% in the first quarter of 2023, which has been attributed to the ongoing effects of covid-19 pandemic, global chip shortage as well as the Russia-Ukraine war.
Due to current market headwinds, some smartphone markets have improved. Toby Zhu, an analyst at Canalys said “However, we have noticed some signs of moderation in the continued decline,”. He also added that “There have been improvements in demand for certain smartphone products and price bands.”
Current market analysis shows that brands like Samsung benefitted from the market headwinds and supply chain delays, as it was the only leading vendor to achieve a quarter-on-quarter recovery, therefore making its way back to the No.1 spot with a 22% market share. This was not the case with the competition, Apple dropped to second place, holding a 21% market share, which was caused by reduced unit shipment and a decline in consumer spending.
Global Smartphone Shipments Declines By 12% In Q1
Other brands like Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo also held a good amount of market share, with Xiaomi taking third place on the global smartphone market with 11% market share, which was influenced by its latest product launch in Europe in the first quarter of 2023.
Oppo and Vivo, which are two of the fastest-growing smartphone brands in the world, also gained a market share of 10% and 8% respectively in China and other emerging markets.
The current decline in smartphone shipments is also believed to be excess production of smartphones that consumers can buy as well as consumers are holding on to their smartphones longer than before.
In 2022, 1.21 billion smartphones were shipped across the world which is the lowest annual shipment recorded since 2013. Despite the introduction of 5G smartphones which was the industry’s major push to try to get the numbers up, as well as the introduction of foldable phones which was another alternative to traditional smartphones but have struggled to gain adoption.
Analysts have pushed that A-list smartphone brands like Samsung and Apple will continue to produce premium smartphones regardless of the decline to fully satisfy high-end consumers.
While the smartphone’s market recovery is dependent on the midrange and entry-level points aimed at emerging markets that have not fully been saturated.
However, budget 5G smartphones which feature new characteristics like eSIM compatibility as well as improved cameras and smartphone wearables can help unlock new markets.
