The IDC Smartphone Tracker reported a pretty subpar record of worldwide smartphone shipments for Q4 2022 as the market contracted by 18.3% to 300.3 million shipments. All five major brands faced double-digit declines on the yearly basis compared to Q4 2021 and the total figure represents the largest quarterly decline.
The big Q4 decline in shipments contributed to the yearly contraction of 11.3% compared to 2021 figures. A grand total of 1.21 billion smartphones were shipped in 2022 compared to 1.36 billion in 2021.
| Company | Q4 2022 shipments (million) | Q4 2022 market share | Q4 2021 shipments (million) | Q4 2021 market share | Annual growth |
| Apple | 72.3 | 24.1% | 85.0 | 23.1% | -14.9% |
| Samsung | 58.2 | 19.4% | 69.0 | 18.8% | -15.6% |
| Xiaomi | 33.2 | 11.0% | 45.0 | 12.2% | -26.3% |
| Oppo | 25.3 | 8.4% | 30.1 | 8.2% | -15.9% |
| vivo | 22.9 | 7.6% | 28.3 | 7.7% | -18.9% |
| Others | 88.3 | 29.4% | 110.2 | 30.0% | -19.8% |
| Total | 300.3 | 100% | 367.6 | 100% | -18.3% |
Focusing on the Q4,2022 preliminary figures Apple once again led the market with 72.3 million shipments and a 24.1% market share. Samsung was second with 58.2 million shipped phones and a 19.4% share of the market. Xiaomi came in third with 33.2 million shipments and 11% of the market and the company saw the largest fall in shipments compared to its values from Q4 2021 at -26.3%. Oppo (25.3 million), and vivo (22.9 million) rounded out the top-five rankings.
The combined shipment figures for the 2022 year show Samsung as the leader with 260.9 million units and a 21.6% market share. Apple was second with 226.4 million and 18.8% of the market while Xiaomi secured 153.1 million shipments and a 12.7% cut of the entire market.
| Comany | 2022 shipments (million) | 2022 market share | 2021 shipments (million) | 2021 market share | Annual growth |
| Samsung | 260.9 | 21.6% | 272.1 | 20.0% | -4.1% |
| Apple | 226.4 | 18.8% | 235.8 | 17.3% | -4.0% |
| Xiaomi | 153.1 | 12.7% | 191.0 | 14.0% | -22.7% |
| Oppo | 103.3 | 8.6% | 133.6 | 9.8% | -22.7% |
| vivo | 99.0 | 8.2% | 128.3 | 9.4% | -22.7% |
| Others | 362.7 | 30.1% | 399.1 | 29.3% | -9.1% |
| Total | 1205.5 | 100% | 1359.8 | 100% | -11.3% |
Oppo (103.3 million) and vivo (99 million) round out the top five with the two companies seeing the largest yearly declines with -22.7% and -22.8% respectively.
Commenting on the plummeting shipment values, IDC analysts suggest dwindling consumer spending and raising inflation levels were the main causes of the lowered demand for new devices.Users are also keeping devices for longer with the refresh rate cycle jumping to 40 months (3.3 years) for some users. Looking ahead IDC predicts that vendors will try to rethink their device portfolios while retail channels will have to better job at allocating their existing inventory.
