China’s 2022 smartphone gross sales plunge to lowest stage in a decade

By Josh Horwitz

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s smartphone gross sales endured a document fall in 2022, tumbling 13% to their lowest stage in a decade as COVID controls and a slowing financial system sapped shopper urge for food, knowledge from third-party analysis corporations confirmed.

The entire variety of gadgets shipped was 286 million, down from 329 million in 2022. It was the bottom gross sales quantity since 2013 and the primary time since then that annual gross sales have dropped beneath 300 million, IDC mentioned in a report.

Strict COVID-19 controls weighed closely on the Chinese language financial system final 12 months however Beijing began dismantling the restrictions in December, boosting consumption.

“The strict pandemic management poicy has resulted in traditionally excessive family financial savings as shopper spending grew to become conservative,” mentioned Lucas Zhong, who tracks China’s smartphone sector for analysis agency Canalys.

Android handset maker Vivo was the top-selling model in 2022, with a market share of 18.6%, in accordance with IDC. Its whole shipments fell 25.1% year-on-year.

Huawei Applied sciences spin-off Honor ranked because the second best-selling model, with shipments rising greater than 34%, albeit from a low base.

Apple Inc was the third best-selling telephone model in 2022, tied with Oppo, transferring up from fourth place within the earlier 12 months.

Apple’s total gross sales fell 4.4% year-on-year, in accordance with IDC, whereas all different rivals excluding Honor noticed gross sales fall within the double digits.

Total, the plunge in smartphone gross sales in China mirrored the sector’s efficiency globally. In 2022, international smartphone shipments hit 1.2 billion, the bottom since 2013 and a year-on-year fall of greater than 11%, in accordance with IDC.

A separate report from Canalys printed on Monday mentioned that within the fourth quarter of 2022, Apple offered 16.4 million gadgets, down 24% year-on-year. This in comparison with a 37.3% shipments stoop from Xiaomi and Honor’s 14.1% fall throughout the identical quarter.

That marks the primary time Apple shipments dropped year-on-year in China since early 2020, when the primary wave of COVID-19 swept the nation. The autumn was attributable to an earlier launch of the newest iPhone sequence in addition to by employee unrest at its main producer Foxconn’s plant within the metropolis of Zhengzhou that impacted its provide chain, Canalys mentioned.

Nonetheless, Apple remained the top-selling telephone maker in China within the quarter, hitting record-high market share, Canalys added.

(Reporting by Josh Horwitz; Modifying by Robert Birsel and Stephen Coates)