Global smartphone shipments

The Global Smartphone Shipment Forecast, 2023 are forecasted to decline 6% to 1.15bn units, the lowest in a decade. Asia is one of the major hurdles to positive growth, as headwinds halt the economic turnaround anticipated for China at the start of the year, and the broader region experiences intensifying declines across emerging markets.

Despite the decline in shipments, the smartphone market is still expected to grow in value in 2023. This is due to the increasing average selling price of smartphones. The decline in smartphone shipments is a sign of the maturing smartphone market. The market is no longer growing at the same pace as it did in the past, but it is still a large and profitable market.

The statics says, North America continues to be a major drag on global recovery, with a disappointing 1H setting it up for double-digit full year declines. Despite strength in the jobs market and inflation falling, consumers are hesitant to upgrade their devices, pushing replacement rates for the US and globally to record highs.

The counterpoint research says, there’s been a decoupling between what’s happening in the economy and consumers buying phones. So far this year it’s been record low upgrades across all carriers.

As per experts, it’s time to watch Q4 with interest because the iPhone 15 launch is a window for carriers to steal high-value customers. And with that big iPhone 12 installed base up for grabs promos are going to be aggressive, leaving Apple in a good spot.

In China, “Apple is well positioned as the premium segment continues to gain more share. Premium and ultra-premium growth is a trend that is happening globally and favours vendors like Apple which have portfolios heavily weighted in the higher segments.

Going forward, the year 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. Assuming Apple doesn’t run into production problems like it did last year, it’s really a toss-up at this point.

The smartphone market is constantly evolving, and it will be interesting to see how it changes in the years to come.

Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, President & CEO, VARINDIA