No, the smartphone market is no longer the El Dorado touted by many investors.
While all sectors are affected by fears of continued high inflation, the smartphone sector is undoubtedly one of the hardest hit. As the cost of living rises, many households are postponing their smartphone purchases. This phenomenon can be found in France and Europe, but not only there. The world's top two smartphone markets - China and the United States - are even the most troubled, according to the latest figures published by the firms Canalys and IDC, cited by Neowin.
While IDC predicted an 11% drop for the whole of 2022, Canalys went a little further with 11.3%. The latter was no more optimistic for the first quarter of 2023, talking about a 12% drop compared to the same period last year. However, IDC is the most pessimistic this time: the firm points to a 14.6% drop with a total of 268.6 million smartphones sold over the period. While all manufacturers are hoping for a recovery early next year, this new decline marks the 7th consecutive quarter of decline. Never seen before.
Apple and its iPhone 14 Pro limit the damage © Neowin
Region by region, we can see that the decline is most marked in China, with -12% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to 2022. In the United States, the decline is still very significant at around 11.5% and it is in Europe where it is the lowest, but we are still talking about a 9.4% decline at the beginning of the year, which is not insignificant. These geographical distinctions have an impact on the health of the main manufacturers. Indeed, it is China's Xiaomi - very dependent on its domestic market - which is the worst performer, with a 23.5% drop over a year. It remains number three in the world in the sector, but sees OPPO coming back very strongly, as this competitor only showed a decline of 6.7%.
The world's number one - Samsung - keeps its crown, but with an 18.9% year-on-year drop in sales, its market share has eroded: from 23.7%, the South Korean now represents only 22.5% of the sector. On the other hand, we note that Apple is coming out of the current storm rather well. Not only does the American brand remain number two, but it is also clearly consolidating its position from 18% market share in the first quarter of 2022 to 20.5% in the first quarter of 2023. Apple owes this to a much more moderate decline than its main competitors (-2.3%) thanks to generally wealthier customers.
