It was supposed to be the year of recovery after two pandemics linked to Covid, but 2022 was yet another of the “Twenties” to forget. The war in Ukraine and the crises connected with the outbreak of the conflict, from the economic one to that of fuel and energy, have in fact played a bad joke on everyone, even on large companies and large technological producers, with a market that above all recorded a real a terrible year. Let’s talk about smartphone marketwhich in 2022 continued its loss trend, even reaching crisis levels like those of ten years ago.
Smartphone market increasingly down
Never so down, at least for now. In fact, after the negative period of Covid, the smartphone market in 2022 experienced yet another black moment in the sector. In fact, the last few years have not been excellent for the latest generation telephone market, with a decline that began in the distant 2016 and is never able to stop. Almost seven years ago, in fact, sales levels reached their peak and from there everything quickly went up in smoke.
The data that has just come out certify an unprecedented fact, namely that not only 2022 it was the black year of smartphones, but that the last quarter was also one to forget. Global sales (Canalys data) have in fact fallen below the threshold of 1.2 billion pieces, but in Q4 last year, the traditionally richest one because it includes the Christmas period and the Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers, had a real meltdown compared to 2021 with a 17% drop. On the whole of 2022, on the other hand, the drop was 11%data that to find a comparison must go back to 2013, the year in which smartphones overtook the old cell phones.
The causes of the collapse? Give problems with i lockdown for Covid in China, the guerra in Ukraine, theinflation and the rise in the price of raw materials and logistics. But also and above all i increasingly high device prices, low innovation and diminished purchasing power. A truly black moment, with the exception of two big brands that can still smile in the crisis. Let’s talk about Apple and Samsung, who despite themselves managed to close the year “positively”. For Apple (whose best smartphones can be found here) ended the year with first place in Q4 and achieved its highest quarterly market share ever at 25%.
Behind Apple there is instead Samsung (here the best mobile phones of the brand), which closed Q4 in second place with a market share of 20%, but was still confirmed as the first brand looking at the whole of 2022. In third place instead Xiaomiwhich held its position despite its share falling to 11% in Q4, largely due to difficulties in India.
If you are interested in discounts and offers on tech products, subscribe to Technology offers channel to receive the best offers on smartphones, smartwatches, smart TVs and all the best of technology every day in real time
Smartphone price alert
But everyone is now wondering, of course, what future awaits the mobile phone market. Certainly the golden age of big sales seems to be well behind us. Le Xuan Chiew, an analyst at Canalys who finalized the market study, stressed that “suppliers will approach 2023 cautiously, prioritizing profitability and protecting market share, cutting costs to adapt to the new reality of the market”.
Of course, attention will have to be paid to production and sales costs because greater investments ask for higher prices from the end customer. Paolo Pescatore, an analyst at PP Foresight, an expert in technology and digital, then underlined that costs are proving to be prohibited and “prices are all going in the wrong direction, with consumers feeling the pressure and tightening their belts”.
