Global smartphone market declined by 7 per cent YoY in Q1 2022: Counterpoint report

There has been a 7 per cent decline in the global smartphone market YoY (year-on-year) to 328 million units in Q1 2022, as the recent Counterpoint Market Monitor report revealed. The report points out that the decline has been caused by the “ongoing component shortages”, the resurgence of Covid-19 that occurred at the beginning of the quarter, and the Russia-Ukraine war that broke out towards the end of the quarter. The global smartphone market also witnessed a seasonal decline of 12 per cent QoQ (quarter-on-quarter). 

“The global smartphone market presented a mixed bag in the first quarter of 2022. Samsung seems to have overcome component shortages that affected its supply last year, as evidenced by higher-than-expected growth in its shipments despite a late flagship launch. Major Chinese OEMs such as Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo, meanwhile, faced a greater component supply crunch, resulting in their shipments falling by 20 per cent, 19 per cent and 19 per cent YoY respectively,” Counterpoint’s senior analyst Harmeet Singh Walia said. 

Research Director Jan Stryjak noted that, “While component shortages are expected to ease soon, the Russia-Ukraine war poses a new challenge to the recovery of the global smartphone market”. 

“In Q1 2022, the war had little impact on global smartphone shipments. Although Samsung and Apple withdrew from the Russian market in early March, the consequences are, at the moment, relatively small on a global scale. The two vendors make up around half of Russian smartphone shipments, but their combined shipments in Russia account for less than 2 per cent of total global smartphone shipments. However, the impact of the war may develop wider ramifications if it leads to a drop in availability of raw materials, a rise in prices, further inflationary pressure and/or other vendors withdrawing from Russia,” Stryjak added. 

Brand-wise, Samsung shipped 74 million units in Q1 2022, which was down 3 per cent YoY. Only two of the top five smartphone brands managed to come close to its pre-pandemic Q1 shipments, and Samsung was one of them. The company launched its flagship devices towards the end of February and despite these being more expensive than the last flagship series, “customers responded well, driving 7 per cent QoQ shipment growth”. 

Apple’s global smartphone shipments remained “flat” at 59 million units in Q1 2022, as compared to Q1 2021. “This was driven by strong demand for iPhone 13 series and the early launch of its first 5G-enabled SE Series which, even in a contracting market, helped push Apple’s market share to 18 per cent, up from 17 per cent in Q1 2021. Its quarterly shipment decline of 28 per cent is primarily due to seasonality,” the report explained. 

Xiaomi’s global smartphone shipments declined by 20 per cent YoY to 39 million units this quarter and its market share fell to 12 per cent from the 14 per cent it had in Q1 2021. “This was caused by the relatively weak performance of the Redmi 9A and 10S smartphones, along with chip shortages that are hurting Xiaomi more severely than other vendors. Xiaomi was also unable to benefit from the Chinese New Year shopping festival, with its share of the world’s biggest smartphone market falling to under 15 per cent (down from over 16 per cent both in the last quarter and in the same quarter of last year),” Counterpoint explained. 

Oppo’s shipments declined by 19 per cent YoY, and 9 per cent QoQ to 31 million units this quarter, while its market share fell from 11 per cent to 9 per cent this quarter.  

Vivo’s shipments also declined by 19 per cent YoY and 3 per cent QoQ and its market share fell to 9 per cent this quarter from the 10 per cent in Q1 2021. 

Realme was the only brand that did not see a decline this quarter as compared to the last quarter. It shipped 14.5 million units in Q1 2022 and was up by 13 per cent YoY. "This was driven by Realme’s expansion in the overseas markets, especially in Europe where its shipments grew by 163 per cent YoY. At the same time, its global shipments have declined by 30 per cent QoQ after a record quarter while its European shipments have taken a smaller hit of 7 per cent caused by the Russia-Ukraine war", Counterpoint explained. In India, Realme "was the only brand among the top five players to experience YoY growth (40 per cent) in Q1 2022.

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