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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
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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.
“Markets saw a spike in Covid-19 cases [in the first quarter] due to the Omicron variant, though minimal hospitalisations and high vaccination rates helped normalise consumer activity quickly,” Nicole Peng, Canalys vice-president of mobility, said in the report. “Vendors face major uncertainty due to the Russia-Ukraine war, China’s rolling lockdowns and the threat of inflation. All of these added to traditionally slow seasonal demand.”
Major Chinese Android smartphone vendors Xiaomi Corp, Oppo and Vivo – ranked third, fourth and fifth in global shipment rankings – each lost market share last quarter, according to Canalys. By contrast, top-ranked vendors Samsung Electronics and Apple both gained market share in the same period.
Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo had first-quarter market shares of 13 per cent, 10 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively. Samsung, with a market-leading 24 per cent share, unseated Apple last quarter as the world’s biggest smartphone vendor. Apple, which topped the global rankings in the December quarter, had an 18 per cent market share.
The latest global shipment rankings reflect the stiff challenges faced by major Android handset vendors in China, the world’s largest smartphone market. Apart from the global semiconductor shortage, and other supply chain disruptions, Chinese smartphone makers must deal with how the war in Ukraine has raised inflationary pressure in the world’s second-largest economy.
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