Worldwide Smartphone Shipments Fall to Lowest Levels

VIVA – The International Data Corporation (IDC) reports that by the end of 2022, worldwide smartphone shipments fall to the lowest level in the last nine years ago, exactly in 2013.

Until last year, worldwide smartphone shipments reached 1.21 billion units, which was the lowest annual shipment total since 2013 due to significantly reduced consumer demand, inflation, and economic uncertainty.

The closing of this difficult year puts the expected 2.8 percent recovery for 2023 in danger with a large downside risk from the forecast.

While throughout the fourth quarter of 2022, worldwide smartphone shipments fell 18.3 percent year-on-year to just 300.3 million units, citing preliminary data from the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

The drop marked the largest-ever decline in a single quarter and contributed to a sharp decline of 11.3 percent for the year.

"We have never seen shipments in the holiday quarter come in lower than the previous quarter. However, weakened demand and high inventory caused vendors to cut back drastically on shipments," research director with IDC’s Worldwide Tracker team, Nabila Popal stated as reported from the IDC site. 

Heavy sales and promotions during the quarter helped deplete existing inventory rather than shipment growth. Vendors are increasingly cautious in their shipments and planning while realigning their focus on profitability.

Even Apple, which thus far was seemingly immune, suffered a setback in its supply chain with unforeseen lockdowns at its key factories in China. What this holiday quarter tells us is that rising inflation and growing macro concerns continue to stunt consumer spending even more than expected and push out any possible recovery to the end of this year.

"We continue to witness consumer demand dwindle as refresh rates climb past 40 months in most major markets," said Nabila Popal, research director with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

With 2022 declining more than 11% for the year, 2023 is set up to be a year of caution as vendors will rethink their portfolio of devices while channels will think twice before taking on excess inventory.

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Even Apple, which thus far was seemingly immune, suffered a setback in its supply chain with unforeseen lockdowns at its key factories in China. What this holiday quarter tells us is that rising inflation and growing macro concerns continue to stunt consumer spending even more than expected and push out any possible recovery to the end of this year.