Giants such as Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Samsung all mentioned weak smartphone sales in their announcement of the reasons for the decline in performance.

According to the latest report released by IDC a few days ago, global smartphone shipments hit the lowest level in 10 years last year, and the performance in the fourth quarter was particularly bad, mainly due to the sluggish macro economy and weak consumer demand. According to IDC data, global smartphone shipments in 2022 will be 1.21 billion units, a decrease of 11.3% from the previous year, which is the lowest shipment since 2013. IDC said the decline in shipments was due to a sharp drop in consumer demand, inflation and economic uncertainty.

Apple continues to maintain its position as the world's largest smartphone manufacturer. The company's IPhone shipments in the fourth quarter of last year were 72.3 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 14.9%. Apple's market share rose to 24.1% from 23.1% in the same period last year, but sales fell 14.9% from the same period last year.

Samsung's shipments are second only to Apple's, with shipments of 58.2 million units in the fourth quarter, a year-on-year decrease of 15.6%. Xiaomi ranked third, with shipments of 33.2 million units in the fourth quarter, a year-on-year decrease of 26.3%. IDC analyst Anthony Scarsella warns that 2023 will be a cautious year given that global smartphone shipments fell more than 11% last year, with suppliers rethinking their device mixes and channel players thinking twice after absorbing excess inventory And go.

Domestically, the IDC report shows that in the fourth quarter of 2022, China's smartphone market shipped approximately 72.92 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 12.6%. Throughout 2022, China's smartphone market will ship about 286 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 13.2%, the largest drop since records began.

It is worth noting that in 2022, China's smartphone market shipments will drop to less than 300 million units after a lapse of 10 years. Previously, domestic smartphone shipments in 2012 were less than 220 million units.

When it comes to why shipments have fallen into a "freezing point", the outside world may first blame the epidemic. However, Guo Tianxiang, a senior analyst at IDC China, pointed out that the impact of the epidemic is only "worse." After all, before the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, the Chinese smartphone market had already begun to decline continuously. Therefore, the main reasons for the continuous decline of China's smartphone market are still concentrated in the following aspects: the market is saturated, the replacement cycle is lengthened; technological development encounters bottlenecks, and new product innovation is insufficient; The quality is getting better and better, performance excess and various other factors.

IDC predicts that in 2023, despite the adjustment of the epidemic prevention and control policy, the prospect of China's smartphone market is still unspeakably optimistic, and it is difficult to see a significant rebound immediately. Only when the economic environment and income gradually improve and increase, and consumer confidence recovers, can market demand really rebound in the second half of this year.