Global smartphone shipments to hit decade low in 2023, says report

By Onome Amuge.

Global smartphone shipments are expected to decline by 6 per cent to 1.15 billion units for the full-year 2023, the lowest in a decade, according to a recent finding by Counterpoint Research.

The global technology market research firm attributed the projected contraction in global smartphone deliveries to regional macro risks extending smartphone replacement rates, and negative growth rates in China,India and North America,considered the likely biggest drivers of negative growth.

Asia is seen as one of the major hurdles to positive growth due to the halt in economic turnaround anticipated for China, along with broader region experiences that have intensified decline across emerging markets.

North America is expected to continue to be a major drag on global recovery with consumers delaying upgrades.

Jeff Fieldhack, research director for North America, Counterpoint emphasised that a decoupling between what’s happening in the economy and consumers buying phones has led to record low upgrades across all carriers.

Global  smartphone sales also sustained a record fall in 2022, plunging 11 per cent year-on-year to 1.2 billion units, the lowest figure seen in nearly a decade as a slowing economy curtailed consumer demand.

Meanwhile, researchers are watching out for Q4, 2023 with interest centred on the launch of the iPhone 15. They expect Apple to be in a good spot with aggressive promos being offered to get more users of the iPhone 12 installed base to upgrade.

 Fieldhack believes 2023 could mark the start of a new era for Apple as a resilient premium market and strong showing in the US could help it become number one globally in terms of annual shipments for the first time ever.

 “It’s the closest Apple’s been to the top spot.  We’re talking about a spread that’s literally a few days’ worth of sales. Assuming Apple doesn’t run into production problems like it did last year, it’s really a toss up at this point,” he added.

Ethan Qi, Associate Director for China, also expressed optimism that Apple is well positioned as the premium segment continues to gain more share in China as well as the rest of the world.

Qi added that with the global trend towards the growth of premium and ultra-premium devices, 2023 could start a new era for Apple as a resilient premium market and strong sales in the U.S. could aid the company to take the top spot.