Apple the only smartphone vendor to increase shipments in Q1 2022
Fueled the high demand of iPhone SE, Apple was the only smartphone maker to increase the worldwide shipment in the first quarter of 2022, according to a new report Canalys. The company witnessed solid growth of 8 per cent and 56.5 million units shipped.
Worldwide smartphone shipments reached 311.2 million units in the first quarter of 2022, down 11 per cent year-on-year, as per Canalys. While Samsung took the lead once again, shipping 73.7 million units but recorded a decline of 43 per cent. Xiaomi was third in the ‘top 5 shipment’ l, recording 39. 2 million in shipment, a decline of 20 per cent. Oppo logged 29 million shipments, down 27 per cent, and Vivo’s growth plunged 30 per cent.
Researchers at Canalys believe that the ongoing Coronavirus restriction in China has caused the shipments to decline. “A strict pandemic control policy has resulted in lockdowns in major cities in China, casting a shadow over the consumer market in the short term. Moreover, disruptions in component production and logics will affect most vendors’ Q2 shipments, both in mainland China and worldwide,” said Canalys Analyst To Zhu.
Xiaomi’s and Transsion shipments fell in the Middle East and Africa in the first quarter of the year, predominantly due to supply pressure at the low end.
“Facing growing uncertainty, the leading vendors responded rapidly to local demand opportunities reallocating locally optimized stock from one region to another. Transsion has been diversifying its business expanding its footprint in Asia since 2021. This strategy helps the company weather tough macro conditions as skyrocketing inflation affects affordability in the ultra-low-end segment,” said Canalys Analyst Sanyam Chaurasia.
As per Zhu, “major vendors suffered sequential declines, except for HONOR, which took first place in China for the first time since it spun out from Huawei 18 months ago.”
North America was the only region to grow this quarter, showing the strength of the consumer market. “While its solid performance was particularly driven demand for Apple’s iPhone 13 series and Samsung’s newly launched Galaxy S22 family, vendors such as Lenovo, TCL and Google continued to make an impressive effort, taking over carrier slots that previously belonged to LG,” said Runar Bjørhovde, research analyst.
Bjørhovde highlights that inflation, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Covid-19 restrictions and supply disruptions will affect all levels of operation and planning. “Though short-term projections are filled with regional uncertainties, component shortages are starting to ease, which relieves some cost pressure. Leading vendors will take this downtime to strengthen relationships with supply chain partners and their core product and channel capabilities to capture rebounding demand in the second half of 2022,” he added.
