Canalys<\/a> said weak demand in the quarter ended September caused shipments to decline 9% year-over-year to 297.8 million units, while preliminary data from IDC revealed a 9.7% year-over-year decline to 301.9 million units. Counterpoint reported a 12% year-on-year decline to 301 million units in the same quarter.
IDC said this is the largest-ever third-quarter decline and the fifth consecutive quarter of fall in shipments. By contrast, Counterpoint said the international political tensions resulting in economic uncertainty hit the smartphone market even though it reversed its slide below the 300-million-mark last quarter, due to a slight recovery in Apple<\/a> and Samsung<\/a> shipments.
Samsung was the top smartphone maker, shipping 64 million units despite a fall of about 8% year-over-year in Q3. Oppo<\/a>, in contrast, fell the sharpest at 22% to ship 25-29 million units and secured fourth position, according to the data from the research firms.
iPhone-maker Apple in the second position was the only company to grow in the third quarter due to the robust demand for the iPhone 13 and the recently launched iPhone 14 series<\/a>. Third-placed Xiaomi<\/a> suffered an 8% decline only as it managed to leverage its global presence to find opportunities for growth, they said.
‘Premium phones faring better than mid-to-low end phones’
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“Performance of the high-end segment was the only highlight this quarter,” commented Canalys Research Analyst Runar Bjørhovde on the performance of vendors. “Apple reached its highest Q3 market share yet, driven by both the iPhone 13 and newly launched iPhone 14<\/a> series.”
In the Android space, Samsung refreshed its foldable portfolio and increased its marketing initiatives significantly to generate interest and demand for its new flagships, said Bjørhovde.
“Mid-to-low-end demand has been hit making it challenging for vendors to navigate in a competitive segment. Xiaomi managed to leverage its global scale with a refreshed product line to offset declines in its home market. Oppo and Vivo are still significantly impacted by the drop in the China market but have both shown small signs of recovery,” he added.
“Most major vendors continued experiencing annual shipment declines in the third quarter of 2022. Russia’s escalating war in Ukraine, ongoing China-US political distrust and tensions, growing inflationary pressures across regions, a growing fear of recession, and weakening national currencies all caused a further dent in consumer sentiment, hitting already weakened demand,” Harmeet Singh Walia, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research<\/a> highlighted the overall market dynamics.
“This is also adding to a slow but sustained lengthening of smartphone replacement cycles with smartphones becoming more durable and as technology advancement slows. This is accompanying, and to a smaller degree advancing, a fall in the shipments of mid- and lower-end smartphones, even as the premium segment weathers the economic storm better,” Walia said.
Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC's Worldwide Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers, noted that developed markets that sell more premium devices<\/a> are faring better than emerging markets where smartphones are sold at relatively low prices.
“We believe this is largely supported by the expansion of installment plans offered through telcos, retail channels, and even direct from vendors. Promotional activity around trade-in offers also supports that shift,” Reith added.
Market outlook
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Canalys Analyst Sanyam Chaurasia said that Europe and Asia Pacific outperformed the rest of the world in Q3. “Europe avoided a significant drop helped by a spike in shipments to Russia. Here, Chinese vendors leveraged short-term opportunities to stock up the channel in a market that has been undersupplied during previous quarters. APAC had a huge variation between different markets, but sequentially improving demand in India, Indonesia and the Philippines helped the region stabilize its performance.”
He added that carrier-dominated markets such as North America and Latin America presented increasingly cautious sentiments on managing inventory before heading into big holiday seasons, contrasting a much more optimistic view in Q3 last year.
Counterpoint Research’s Associate Director Jan Stryjak noted that the full-impact of iPhone 14 may be felt in Q4, resulting in further quarterly improvement in the coming quarter but central banks’ attempts to control inflation will further reduce consumer demand.
“The channel inventory is still higher, and the OEMs will focus on getting rid of excess inventory in Q4 as well. Hence, shipments are unlikely to reach last year’s levels, let alone pre-pandemic Q4 levels of over 400 million units. Looking further ahead into 2023, we expect sluggish demand with lengthening replacement rates, especially in the first half of the year,” said Stryjak.
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