Global smartphone shipments drop 11 percent year-on-year: Canalys

The global smartphone market has taken a hit, with shipments in the first quarter of 2022 falling 11 percent from the year-ago period, a report has said.

While the first quarter tends to be slow for the industry, this year, factors like the Russia-Ukraine war, lockdown in China and soaring global inflation contributed to the drop, global technology market analyst firm Canalys said in its latest report.

The report said Samsung and Apple emerged as the two leading smartphone brands, growing their market share year on year.

The other brands in the top five slots, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo, all saw a decline in their overall year-on-year market share.

South Korean giant Samsung had a 24 percent market share in Q1 2022, up from 22 percent in the year-ago period.

The company reclaimed the top spot in large part due to strong sales recorded by the flagship Galaxy S22 series, the report said. Samsung has been aggressively revealing multiple Galaxy A and M series devices, with demand for the former spiking.

Apple recorded 3 percent year-on-year growth, from 15 percent in Q1 2021 to 18 percent in Q1 2022. The recently launched iPhone SE (2022) was an important mid-range volume driver for Apple. Canalys noted that carriers were demanding 5G phones to sell and the third-generation iPhone SE was the cheapest 5G iPhone, while sales of the iPhone 13 series were still going strong into 2022.

Xiaomi and Oppo saw a 1 percent decline in their year-on-year market share, while Vivo slipped 2 percent.

The report, however, offered relief to phonemakers, saying the component shortage plaguing the industry could improve sooner than expected, which should “help relieve cost pressures”. This could also see the industry bounce back in the next couple of quarters.