Apple is facing a drop in iPhone shipments in 2022. As per reports, orders fall nearly 14.9% in the last year. Moreover, there will be a 4% drop in iPhone sales in 2023. Yet, this news may not impact the company.
Because Apple tends to perform much better than other brands, the reports are taken by a market intelligence company, IDC. As per the report, the last quarter of 2022 has faced a notable drop in phone shipments.
The loss was low as compared to the previous years. Also, the market has been at a record low since 2013. The report says that
Worldwide smartphone shipments dropped 18.3% year over year to 300.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2022 (4Q22), according to initial data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. The drop shows the largest-ever fall in a single quarter and contributed to an 11.3% drop for the year. 2022 ended with shipments of 1.21 billion units, which shows the lowest annual shipment since 2013 due to exhausted consumer needs, inflation, and economic tensions.
Considering the holiday quarter shipments, IDC says that shipments were even lower than in the third quarter. This is for the first time; the market is facing such uncertainty. Similarly, IDC says,
“We have never seen shipments in the holiday quarter come in lower than the last quarter. Yet, weakened demand and high inventory forced retailers to cut back on shipments,” said Nabila Popal, research director with the IDC team.
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“Heavy sales and promotions during the quarter helped consume existing stock rather than driving shipment growth. Vendors are careful in their shipments and planning while realigning their focus on profitability.
Even Apple, which was immune, suffered a setback in its supply chain with unforeseen lockdowns at its key factories in China. This holiday quarter points that rising inflation and growing macro problems continue to stunt customer spend even more than expected.”
iPhone Shipment in 2022 Dropped 4%:
Unlike iPhone shipments in 2022, other brands performed poorly in the fourth quarter of 2022. Further details show that Samsung phone shipment stands at 15.6% and Xiaomi at 26.3% low.
Overall, all brands have faced an 18.3% drop. The story remains the same in the last year. iPhone shipments in 2022 were down nearly 4%. But it is much less than other brands like Vivo at 22.8% and Samsung at 4.1%.
And the overall yearly drop was 11.3%. We can hope that the current year will help brands in making some recovery. Also, phone shipments will increase by 2.8%. Yet, it is uncertain for some reason.
Reasons for Market Uncertainty:
First, customers have a low budget to pay for phones. Also, inflation and widespread layoffs are the main reasons. Thus, people are uncertain about spending on luxury items.
Second, phone makers are doubtful too. For instance, they are thinking of not expanding their lineups. Or they want to limit the launching of new phones. Likewise, iPhone models will have limited editions in 2024.
Third, retailers are also doubtful as they are making few orders because they do not want to have a vast stock that remains unsold. So, these are why iPhone shipments in 2022 fell 14.9% in the holiday quarter of 2022.
