iPhone Shipments Dropped 14.9% in Q422 But Apple Still Outperformed the Competition [Report]

Worldwide smartphone shipments experienced their largest ever decline this past holiday quarter, according to a new report from IDC.

Smartphone shipments declined 18.3% year over year to 300.3 million units in 4Q22. That contributed to a steep 11.3% decline for the entire year. Total shipments for 2022 were 1.2 billion units, the lowest since 2013.

"We have never seen shipments in the holiday quarter come in lower than the previous quarter. However, weakened demand and high inventory caused vendors to cut back drastically on shipments," said Nabila Popal, research director with IDC ' s Worldwide Tracker team. "Heavy sales and promotions during the quarter helped deplete existing inventory rather than drive shipment growth. Vendors are increasingly cautious in their shipments and planning while realigning their focus on profitability. Even Apple, which thus far was seemingly immune, suffered a setback in its supply chain with unforeseen lockdowns at its key factories in China. What this holiday quarter tells us is that rising inflation and growing macro concerns continue to stunt consumer spending even more than expected and push out any possible recovery to the very end of 2023."




"We continue to witness consumer demand dwindle as refresh rates climb past 40 months in most major markets," said Anthony Scarsella, research director with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. "With 2022 declining more than 11% for the year, 2023 is set up to be a year of caution as vendors will rethink their portfolio of devices while channels will think twice before taking on excess inventory. However, on a positive note, consumers may find even more generous trade-in offers and promotions continuing well into 2023 as the market will think of new methods to drive upgrades and sell more devices, specifically high-end models."

Notably, Apple experienced the lowest decline of any smartphone manufacturer. Dropping just 4.0% for 2022 and 14.9% for Q4. Samsung dropped 4.1% in 2022 and 15.6% in 4Q22.

Take a look at the charts below for more details...


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