14 DAY TRIAL // New research conducted by Omdia reveals that Apple was the number one phone maker in the fourth quarter of 2022 despite a heavy drop recorded by the company.
More specifically, the Cupertino-based tech giant sold a total of 74 million devices, Omdia says, and this represents a decline of no more, no less than 13.3 percent from the same quarter a year before.
With a 25 percent market share, Apple was therefore the leader of the phone industry, ahead of runner-up Samsung.
The South Korean firm sold 58 million units during the quarter, but as Omdia notes, this isn’t necessarily a surprise.
The fourth quarter of the year is typically dominated by Apple, as the company unveils its new-generation phones in September. Sales of these devices begin later the same month or in the next weeks, so its quarterly results are significantly boosted by the new models.
Samsung secured a market share of 19 percent, but this year-over-year performance went down 15.4 percent.
“Apple seemed to be the one OEM resisting the overall decline in the wider market in the first three quarters of 2022, but it has now finally succumbed to the overall market conditions. Because its consumers are typically loyal and high-income customers, it was expected that the cost-of-living crisis wouldn’t affect Apple shipments in the same way it effects low and mid-range brands,” said Jusy Hong, Senior Research Manager at Omdia.
“But now, with the effects of inflation and production disruptions, Apple’s fourth quarter bump in 2022 is disappointingly small compared to the previous year. Despite this, early demand and customer feedback for the latest iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max has been really strong, thanks to a new front-facing display called Dynamic Island. Apple was confident in strong demand and had planned maximum production for these two models to counteract it. However, the suspension of production at the Foxconn plant put a damper on this.”
Xiaomi was third in the charts, followed by Vivo and Oppo Group.