Worldwide smartphone shipments declined 18.3% year-over-year during the fourth quarter in the biggest such drop on record, according to International Data Corp. research.

Preliminary data released by IDC today indicates that consumers bought 300.3 million handsets in the last three months of 2022. That’s down from 362.4 million a year earlier. Demand was also lower than in the third quarter of 2022, when consumers purchased 301.9 million smartphones.

“We have never seen shipments in the holiday quarter come in lower than the previous quarter,” said IDC Research Director Nabila Popal. “However, weakened demand and high inventory caused vendors to cut back drastically on shipments. Heavy sales and promotions during the quarter helped deplete existing inventory rather than drive shipment growth.”

Apple Inc. sold more handsets than any other mobile device maker in the fourth quarter. IDC estimates that the company shipped 72.3 million iPhones to customers, down from 85 million a year earlier. But though the number of devices it sold fell, Apple grew its share of the smartphone market by one percentage point, to 21.4%.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. ranked as the second-largest handset maker in the fourth quarter with 58.2 million devices sold. The company shipped 69 million smartphones at the same time 12 months earlier. Similarly to Apple, Samsung slightly increased its overall share of the smartphone market to 19.4% from 18.8% in the fourth quarter of 2021. 

The three next largest smartphone manufacturers, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, together sold 81.4 million units. That translated into a combined market share of 33.2%. According to IDC, the rest of the handset market was divided among smaller handset makers that together sold 93.6 million smartphones, or about one in every three handsets sold worldwide.

Though Apple shipped more smartphones than Samsung during the fourth quarter, the Korean company ranked as the world’s largest handset maker in 2022. Samsung sold 260.9 million devices during the year, according to IDC’s estimates. Apple sold 226.4 million iPhones.

IDC projects that worldwide smartphone shipments will edge up 2.8% this year, to 1.24 billion units. However, the research firm cautioned today that the lower consumer demand in the fourth quarter “puts the 2.8% recovery expected for 2023 in serious jeopardy with heavy downward risk to the forecast.” The lower device demand could potentially also affect sales of the mixed reality headsets that Apple and Samsung are expected to introduce this year. 

“We continue to witness consumer demand dwindle as refresh rates climb past 40 months in most major markets,” said IDC Research Director Anthony Scarsella. “However, on a positive note, consumers may find even more generous trade-in offers and promotions continuing well into 2023.”

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