Canalys Said The Global Smart Phone Market Decreased 17 Percent In Q4 2022, But Apple Still Defends!

JAKARTA - One of the world's consumer research companies Canalys released a report on the number of smartphone markets in the fourth quarter (Q4) 2022 from October to December, as well as the performance of vendors for a full year.

The report states smartphone shipments worldwide fell 17 percent Year-on-Year (YoY) in Q4 2022. As a result, shipments for the full year 2022 fell 11 percent to less than 1.2 billion, making it a very challenging year for all vendors.

However, good news still surrounds Apple taking the top spot in Q4 and hitting its top quarterly market share of 25 percent thanks to the launch of the latest iPhone, despite shrinking demand and manufacturing issues in Zhengzhou, China.

Meanwhile, Samsung is in second place with a 20 percent market share. Xiaomi maintains third place even though its share fell to 11 percent in Q4, largely due to challenges in India.

Then brands from China, OPPO and Vivo complete the top five, each taking 10 percent and 8 percent market share.

The smartphone vendor has struggled in a difficult macroeconomic environment throughout 2022. Q4 marks the worst annual and Q4 performances in a decade, said Canalys Runar Research Analyst Bj morhovde in a statement quoted on Friday, January 20.

Compared to Q4 2021, Apple experienced market growth of 2 percent, Samsung and Oppo 1 percent, Vivo still has the same figure, but Xiaomi is down 2 percent due to challenges in India.

Furthermore, reports throughout 2021 state Samsung leads the market with 22 percent, Apple 19 percent, and Xiaomi in third place 13 percent.

To that end, Canalys estimates the average to marginal growth for the smartphone market in 2023, with conditions expected to remain difficult.

The vendor will approach 2023 carefully, prioritize profitability and protect market share, explained Canalys Research Analyst Le Xuan Chiew.

The Vendor cuts costs to adapt to new market realities. Building strong partnerships with channels will be important to protect market share because difficult market conditions for channel partners and vendors can easily lead to heavy negotiations," he added.

Chiew said, although inflationary pressures will gradually ease, the effects of rising interest rates, increasingly difficult economic slowdowns and labor markets will limit market potential.

"Ini akan berdampak buruk pada pasar yang satur, didominasi menengah ke atas, seperti Eropa Barat dan Amerika Utara. Sementara pembukaan kembali China akan meningkatkan kepercayaan konsumen dan bisnis domestik, excitasi pemerintah hanya akan menunjukkan efek dalam enam sampai sembilan bulan dan permintaan di China akan tetap menantang dalam jangka pendek," tutur Chiew.

But Chiew explained, some areas are likely to grow in the second half of 2023, with Southeast Asia in particular expected to experience economic recovery and revival of tourism in China which helps boost business activities.