European Smartphone Shipments Declined 11 Percent in 2Q22

The European smartphone market declined by 11% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2022, according to Counterpoint Research. This is the lowest quarterly total since the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic. A deteriorating economic climate and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty continued to hamper both Europe’s and the world’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and chip shortages.

“It was a mixed bag of results in 2Q22, and year-on-year comparisons mask complex market dynamics. Much has changed in Europe compared to last year and even last quarter, both from an industry and macro perspective,“ said Jan Stryjak, Counterpoint Research’s Associate Director.

Samsung remained Europe’s number one vendor and grew both shipments and market share over the year, but this was mostly thanks to 2Q21 being Samsung’s lowest European shipments total in over a decade due to factory shutdowns in Vietnam. Compared to 1Q22 though, Samsung’s European shipments dropped by almost a quarter due to its withdrawal from Russia. Apple also grew both shipments and market share year-on-year in Europe - largely due to the launch of the 5G-enabled iPhone SE - but it declined drastically quarter-on-quarter for the same reason as Samsung.

Xiaomi declined from a peak in 2Q21, which was its best quarter in Europe ever, having been hit particularly hard by supply issues. However, Xiaomi made the most of Samsung and Apple’s Russian withdrawal and gained significantly quarter-on-quarter, especially in Eastern Europe. Rounding out the top five, OPPO was hit by supply and manufacturing issues in China, while realme continued its impressive performance in Europe with double-digit year-on-year shipment growth.

“The situation in Europe, unfortunately, remains bleak. Many countries in Europe are slipping closer to a recession, and domestic political tensions in numerous countries beyond Russia and Ukraine are rising, for example in France, Germany, and the UK. We remain hopeful, though, that the bottom has been reached and the trajectory should turn upwards soon, but the recovery will likely be long and slow,“ added Stryjak.