IDC tracked a global decline in smartphones and tablet computers in the first quarter due to multiple factors, including everything from buyer behavior changes with inflation and the war in Ukraine.
“Things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse,” said Nabila Popal, research director at IDC, speaking of a nearly 9% decline in smartphones in the quarter year over year.
For smartphones it was the third consecutive quarter of declines, even lower than what IDC had forecast in February.
“Consumer sentiment across all regions, and especially China, is broadly negative with heavy concerns around inflation and economic instability that have dampened consumer spending,” Popal said. Also, lockdowns in Shanghai and rising costs of components and transportation have hurt smartphone makers.
“The world continues to face numerous challenges, whether it be geopolitical, pandemic related or macroeconomic,” said Ryan Reith, an IDC group vice president. “Almost everything that’s happened in recent months has been a headwind on the smartphone market and realistically many other tech segments.”
Apple and Samsung have weathered the supply chain shortages better than other phone vendors, IDC said, putting Samsung on top for the quarter with 73 million phones shipped, followed by Apple at 56 million. The other top vendors were Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo. In all, about 314 million smartphones shipped in the quarter.
Tablet shipments declined by nearly 4% in the first quarter year over year while Chromebooks decline by nearly 62%, IDC said. Shipments of tablets are still above pre-pandemic levels but many customers have held onto the devices they purchased in 2020 and 2021 in the early months of the pandemic.
Apple led the way in tablet shipments, followed by Samsung, with a total of 38 million shipped in the quarter across all vendors. Lenovo was the top Chromebook company, almost tied with Dell and Acer, with each shipping more than 1.1 million Chromebooks.
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