“The pandemic affected consumer behaviour in the medium to long term, where consumers tended to spend their income on necessary expenses,” he said.
Apple’s performance in China has been a rare bright spot amid strong demand for iPhone 14 series devices that launched in September. With shipments of 13.3 million devices for the quarter, the US tech giant was the top smartphone vendor with 20 per cent of the market, where the brand continues to enjoy immense popularity.
Oppo followed closely behind Apple for the quarter with 19 per cent of the market, shipping 12.6 million phones.
Vivo, Huawei Technologies’ spin-off Honor and Xiaomi made up the rest of the top five, with 17 per cent, 14 per cent, and 13 per cent market share, respectively.
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Foxconn dangles incentives for workers as iPhone shortages plague holiday season
Honor and Xiaomi, both known for their budget-friendly products, saw the largest shipment declines for the quarter, down 35 per cent and 20 per cent year on year, respectively.
The smartphone industry has been struggling globally for years as consumers have tended to hold onto devices for longer. Worldwide smartphone shipments were down 13 per cent to 269.8 million for the quarter, according to Canalys.
Samsung Electronics and Apple maintained their top spots for the quarter, together accounting for 43 per cent of the global market. Chinese brands Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo rounded out the top five, with a combined 29 per cent of the market.
“The market remains challenging and Canalys maintains its forecast of marginal declines for 2023”, said Canalys’ Zhong, adding that he “expects the smartphone market will gain momentum in the second half of the year as channel inventories reach healthier levels”.
