Samsung Hits Highest Smartphone Market Share in Five Years in 1Q22

Global smartphone shipments fell 11% to 314 million units in the first quarter of 2022, according to Strategy Analytics. Samsung topped the global smartphone market with a healthy 24% share, the highest first-quarter performance over the past five years. Apple ranked second place with an 18% share. Xiaomi, OPPO (including OnePlus), and vivo stayed in the top five list.

“Global smartphone shipments fell -11% YoY to 314 million units in 1Q22. This is the third consecutive quarter of annual decline in smartphone volumes. Factory constraints and component shortages continued to restrict smartphone supply in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, unfavorable economic conditions, geopolitical issues, as well as COVID-19 disruption continued to weaken consumers’ demand for smartphones and other non-essential products,“ said Linda Sui, Senior Director at Strategy Analytics.

Strategy Analytics estimates Samsung shipped 75 million smartphones and topped the global smartphone market with a healthy 24% share. It is the vendor’s highest first-quarter performance by share since 2017. Apple shipped 57 million iPhones worldwide, up 1%, for an 18% global market share. Xiaomi shipped 39 million smartphones and took third place with a 12% global market share, down from 14% a year ago. OPPO (OnePlus) held the fourth spot and captured a 10% global smartphone market share. Vivo stayed fifth with an 8% global smartphone market share in Q1 2022. OPPO and Vivo both lost ground in all key markets except Latin America, as 5G competition from Honor and other smartphone competitors intensified sharply in China and other markets.

“Global competition among other major smartphone brands, beyond the top-five, was fierce during 1Q22. Honor, Realme, Lenovo-Motorola, and Transsion all outperformed the overall market but delivered different patterns. Honor held firmly in China and continued to ramp up in overseas markets. Realme continued the upwards track in all regions, but China pulled back the overall performance. Lenovo-Motorola gained a share in North America but the momentum in Central Latin America has been disrupted by other Chinese brands. Transsion faced the intensified competition from Samsung in the Africa region, posting the annual decline in the region for the first time over the past two years,“ said Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics.

“We forecast global smartphone shipments to contract 1% to 2% YoY in full-year 2022. This year will be a tale of two halves. Geopolitical issues, component shortages, price inflation, exchange rate volatility, and Covid disruption will continue to weigh on the smartphone market during the first half of 2022 before the situation eases in the second half due to Covid vaccines, interest rate rises by central banks, and less supply disruption at factories,“ concluded Linda Sui.