According to a research report released by Canalys, China’s smartphone shipments in 2022 will drop by 14% year-on-year to 287 million units, which is the first time in the past ten years that it will fall below 300 million units. Vivo won the annual shipment crown, only Honor and Apple Achieve annual growth of 30% and 4%, respectively, ranking second and third in the market. High-end consumers have shown some resilience in the economic turmoil. Coupled with Apple’s price reduction promotion strategy, its annual market share reached a record high of 18%. In the fourth quarter of 2022, the mobile phone market in mainland China is still operating at a low level, with overall shipments of 74.4 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 14%. Among them, Apple fell 24% year-on-year due to the impact of the release rhythm and the continuity of Zhengzhou Foxconn production, but it still relied on the release of the iPhone 14 series to ship 16.4 million units, ranking first. Competed by Apple’s peak season, vivo ranked second with a 17% market share and shipped 12.7 million units. OPPO (including OnePlus) shipped 12.5 million units, ranking third, maintaining its performance in the third quarter. Honor shipped 12.2 million units, dropping to fourth place in terms of shipments. Xiaomi shipped 8.5 million units, maintaining its fifth position.
“Affected by the continued sluggish demand, the performance of the Chinese market in the fourth quarter was not satisfactory, and the overall market shipments for the whole year have fallen to a new low since 2013.” Canalys Research Analyst Lucas Zhong said “Continued strict anti-epidemic policies have led to conservative consumer spending and record growth in household savings. The consumer confidence index in October and November remained at a low level since April this year. During the traditional double 11 sales season , No obvious signs of boost were observed on the demand side. Although China relaxed its epidemic prevention and control policies in December, economic production activities at the end of the year were also affected by the explosive growth of cases.”
“Excessive inventory level is one of the problems that manufacturers are trying to solve this year. Through the promotion season in the fourth quarter, most manufacturers have further eased their inventory pressure and controlled the inventory level at a normal level. Manufacturers have also begun to Slow down the expansion of its offline channels and pursue a stable channel layout.” Canalys Research Analyst Zhong Xiaolei (Lucas Zhong) added, “At the same time, Chinese manufacturers are still insisting on advancing the exploration of high-end and ecological fields. Continue to update the imaging flagship product line that uses Leica imaging and IMX989. OPPO iterated its Find N folding series and launched the top and bottom folding products for the first time. Honor released MagicOS 7.0 and MagicRing trust ring, intending to create an ecological moat through smart interconnection experience.”
Canalys analyst Amber Liu said, “The sluggish job market and uncertainties in the economic environment in 2022 will make consumer spending tend to be conservative, especially affecting low-end demand. Therefore, manufacturers’ market plans for 2023 Still cautious. For example, Honor has experienced rapid growth in 2022. This year, it will rely on Magic OS to develop IoT products, rather than aggressively pursue shipment growth and offline channel expansion. OPPO will adopt a steady trading strategy in 2023 to achieve Smoothly transition the market adjustment period, and continue to expand the application scope of the three major technology bases. The epidemic prevention policy released in December will bring benefits to the market in 2023, but the stimulus effect on the economy and demand may take 6-12 months to gradually Therefore, it will take time for the Chinese market to recover. In the medium and long term, we expect the supply chain to regain its stability in 2023 with the relaxation of prevention and control policies, and the overall market performance is also expected to follow economic activities. recovery and slightly increased year-on-year.”
