Samsung is the only major company to achieve quarter-on-quarter growth in the global smartphone market, as the struggling sector suffers a fifth consecutive quarter of decline.

The entire market fell 12 per cent year-on-year for the first three months of 2023.

Samsung’s quarterly growth saw it snare the crown back from Apple, taking 22 per cent of market share over Apple’s 21 per cent.

Solid demand for its iPhone 14 Pro series in the March quarter saw Apple climb 3 per cent in market share term compared to the first quarter in 2022.

“The smartphone market’s decline in the first quarter of 2023 was within expectations throughout the industry,” said Canalys Analyst Sanyam Chaurasia.

“The local macroeconomic conditions continued to hinder vendors’ investments and operations in several markets. Despite price cuts and heavy promotions from vendors, consumer demand remained sluggish, particularly in the low-end segment due to high inflation affecting consumer confidence and spending.

“Additionally, the continuous sluggish end-user demand has triggered a major wave of destocking across the entire supply chain, with channels reducing inventory levels to secure operations.

“To maintain a low level of sell-in volume, vendors continued to use cautious production techniques, which had a long-term negative impact on the component supply chain’s operational performance.”

Canalys notes improvements in demand for certain smartphone products and price bands, and “some signs of moderation in the continued decline,” as analyst Toby Zhu puts it.

“Furthermore, some smartphone vendors are becoming more active in production planning and ordering components.”

Despite expecting a return to “a relatively healthy level” by the end of the current quarter, Canalys says it is still too early to predict the recovery of overall consumer demand.

“However, the sell-in volume of the global smartphone market is expected to improve due to the reduction in inventories in the next few quarters. In addition, vendors have focused more on innovations and raising production and channel efficiencies after a round of fluctuations, shifting from growing for volumes and shares to growing for quality. 5G popularisation and foldable phones are also becoming the new driving forces in the industry.”