IDC: Global smartphone shipments in 2Q22 fell 8.7% year-on-year

According to IDC data, global smartphone shipments in the second quarter of this year fell 8.7% year-on-year to 286 million units, 3.5% lower than expected, and also marked the fourth consecutive quarter that the smartphone market has shrunk.

What started out as a supply-constrained industry earlier this year has turned into a demand-constrained market,” said Nabila Popal research director with IDC’s Worldwide Tracker team. “While supply improved as capacity and production was ramped up, roaring inflation and economic uncertainty has seriously dampened consumer spending and increased inventory across all regions. OEMs have cut back orders for the rest of the year with Chinese vendors making the biggest cuts as their largest market continues to struggle. Although we do expect demand to start picking up in some regions towards the end of the year, the outlook for the 2022 smartphone market will definitely be revised down a few points. We continue to believe that any reduction today is not demand that is lost, but simply pushed forward.

From a regional perspective, due to the geopolitical situation, Central and Eastern Europe experienced the largest decline in the second quarter, down 36.5% year-on-year. However, in terms of specific shipments, this region only accounts for 6% of global shipments, and the largest decline in shipments came to China, down 14.3% year-on-year. Asia Pacific (excluding Japan and China) accounted for nearly half of global smartphone shipments, but this segment also declined by 2.2%.

Despite the decline in global smartphone shipments, the status of major mobile phone manufacturers as a whole has remained unchanged. Samsung ranked first with a market share of 21.8%, followed by Apple with 15.6%, while Xiaomi ranked third with 13.8%. VIVO and OPPO ranked fourth and fifth with 8.7% and 8.6%, respectively.