Global smartphone shipments are down 9.7 per cent, marking the fifth straight quarter of year-on-year declines.
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, global shipments sat at 301.9 million units for the September quarter.
The drop marks the largest-ever third quarter decline, which IDC credits to weakened global demand and economic uncertainties.
“A majority of the decline came from emerging markets where lack of demand, rising costs, and inflation impacted consumers with lesser disposable incomes,” said Nabila Popal, research director with IDC’s Worldwide Tracker team.
“With high inventory coming into the quarter, shipments and orders by OEMs were further reduced in an attempt to deplete inventory. Although Chinese vendors continue to suffer the most, all vendors were impacted, including Samsung and Apple.”
Samsung held the top spot with a 21.2 per cent share, Apple came in second with a 17.2 per cent share, while Chinese phones (Xiaomi, vivo and OPPO) occupied the rest of the top five.
Except for Apple, all the top vendors suffered year-on-year declines.
“While Apple is the only vendor to deliver positive growth this quarter, it still faced challenges as its growth was stunted in many markets, including China, due to the poor macroeconomic situation,” Popal explained.
“Looking to 2023, the market’s expected recovery, which we continue to believe will happen, will be pushed further into the year. Moreover, we now expect a steeper shipment decline for 2022 and a softer recovery in 2023.”