Strategy Analytics: Apple took second place in the smartphone market – this is the best indicator in 10 years

The global supply of smartphones fell by 7%, but this did not prevent Apple from taking a better position in the market. Despite the fact that the company lost 11% of profits last quarter, it came in second place in the global smartphone market. Apple’s share was 16%. This was the best result in the last 10 years, reports Strategy Analytics.

The first place was taken by Samsung with a share of 22%. Xiaomi, Oppo (including OnePlus) and vivo were also in the top five of the list.

“COVID disruption and geopolitical issues adversely impacted smartphone market in the second quarter of this year. Meanwhile, unfavorable economic conditions continued to weaken consumers’ demand on smartphones and other non-essential products,” said Linda Sui, senior director of Strategy Analytics.

The market continues to have unfavorable conditions for the sale of smartphones and other equipment. According to the director, the volume of smartphone deliveries is falling for the fourth quarter in a row. Now they have decreased by 7% to 291 million units.

63 million of them were supplied by Samsung, leading the market. The new flagship Galaxy S22 series, and in particular the more expensive S22 Ultra model, was in particular demand. Apple has shipped 48 million iPhones worldwide. Its sales were led by the iPhone 13.

Xiaomi is not far behind Apple with 40 million smartphones and a market share of 14%. The company suffered from geopolitical uncertainty in Europe and lost some of its position – last year its share was 17%.

Linda Sui says the deterioration of the smartphone market will continue until the end of this year. According to her, softening should be expected in 2023.

“We forecast global smartphone shipments to contract -7% to -8% YoY in full-year 2022. Geopolitical issues, economy downturn, price inflation, exchange rate volatility, and Covid disruption will continue to weigh on the smartphone market during the second half of 2022. All these headwinds would continue through the first half of next year, before the situation eases in the second half of 2023,” says the director.

According to her, Samsung and Apple will hold on to the first two positions. Chinese brands should stabilize their performance in the domestic market and find new ways to grow to stop falling.