The market observer IDC shows how badly the smartphone market is doing as a result of the economic recession – in relative terms. In 2022, just over 1.2 billion smartphones were sold, 11.3 percent fewer than in 2021 (1.36 billion). This is the lowest value since 2013.
As with the PC market, the beginning of 2022 embellishes the full-year figures, because in the fourth quarter the minus compared to the previous year was already 18.3 percent. According to IDC, a good 300 million smartphones were sold in the three months.
The big losers of the year are the Chinese manufacturers Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo with declines of 20 percent and more. The two world market leaders Apple and Samsung, on the other hand, got off well with -4 percent. However, the weak market does not leave these manufacturers completely cold either: in the last quarter, the minus there was around 15 percent.
(Image: IDC)
Disaster for memory manufacturers
The figures show why memory manufacturers in particular are currently struggling with full warehouses, which, among other things, leads to low SSD prices. The decline of 67 million smartphones in the fourth quarter alone means that device manufacturers need tens of millions fewer NAND flash and SDRAM devices that Samsung, Kioxia, Western Digital, SK Hynix, Micron & Co. have to get rid of elsewhere.
IDC’s outlook for manufacturers, meanwhile, is pessimistic, as even the traditionally strong Christmas sales went poorly. However, this also means an opportunity for users: larger discounts and exchange offers (trade-ins) could come in the course of the year in order to increase the willingness to buy.
Otherwise, people seem increasingly willing to use their smartphones longer. The interval between purchases in the largest markets is now said to be more than 40 months, i.e. almost 3.5 years.
(mma)
