Global smartphone shipments record sharpest decline since the Covid-19 outbreak, eroding major Chinese vendors’ market share

  • Major Chinese smartphone vendors Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo each lost market share in the first quarter, while Samsung and Apple extended their global lead
  • Smartphone shipments fell 11 per cent last quarter because of economic headwinds and sluggish seasonal demand

In February, Apple sales in China “surpassed that of the US for the first time since April 2020”, said Counterpoint Research. Photo: Shutterstock
Global smartphone shipments in the first quarter saw the steepest decline since the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020 amid economic headwinds and sluggish seasonal demand, further eroding the market share of China’s top three handset vendors, according to the latest industry data.

Smartphone shipments fell 11 per cent last quarter because of broad market uncertainty, according to a report on Tuesday by tech research firm Canalys, which did not provide volume numbers. That compares to the 13 per cent year-on-year drop to 272 million units in the first quarter of 2020, when disruptions caused by the pandemic wreaked havoc on worldwide smartphone demand.

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