Worldwide smartphone shipments declined 18.3 percent to 300.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to IDC.
Smartphone shipments in 2022 fell 11.3 percent to 1.21 billion units, which represent the lowest annual shipment total since 2013 due to significantly dampened consumer demand, inflation, and economic uncertainties.
“We have never seen shipments in the holiday quarter come in lower than the previous quarter. Weakened demand and high inventory caused vendors to cut back drastically on shipments,” said Nabila Popal, research director with IDC’s Worldwide Tracker team.
“With 2022 declining more than 11 percent 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,” Anthony Scarsella, research director with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, said.
