Canalys is out today with its joint report that focuses on both last year’s fourth quarter (October to December) smartphone stock numbers as well as full-year performance. All in all, the picture is pretty bleak for handset vendors. The market shrank 17% in Q4 compared to Q4 2021. Full-year shipments fell 11% to less than 1.2 billion.
Apple won the market share game in the 4th quarter, as usual, influenced by the launch of their latest iPhones, but this time it recorded its highest ever market share: 25%. Samsung was second with 20%, Xiaomi was third with 11%, Oppo was fourth with 10% and vivo was fifth with 8% of the market, while the “Other” category accounted for 26% of sales.
Compared to Q4 2021, Apple’s share grew by 2%, Samsung’s and Oppo’s by 1%, vivo’s remained the same and Xiaomi’s fell by 2%. Xiaomi’s decline is apparently “mainly due to challenges in India”.
For the full year, Samsung led with 22% of the market, followed by Apple with 19% and Xiaomi with 13%. Oppo and vivo both had 9% market share. Compared to 2021, Samsung and Apple gained 2 percentage points in share, Oppo lost 2%, while Xiaomi and vivo fall by 1%.
For 2023, the Canalys forecast predicts “flat to marginal growth” for the entire market. Sellers are said to be approaching the year cautiously, prioritizing profitability and protecting market share, cutting costs “to adapt to the new market reality”, according to analyst Le Xuan Chiew.
