Global Smartphone Market to Decline Due to COVID, Inflation: Report

Smartphone market in 2022 is expected to decline due to COVID and inflation, according to a recent report by market research firm TrendForce. The global smartphone production volume in Q1 2022 stood at 310 million units — a QoQ decrease of 12.8 percent. The return of the pandemic in China in 2022 also contributed to the drop in the global mobile phone production to 309 million units. China's smartphone market still ranks first in the world. It is worth noting that during the same time period in 2021, when the pandemic in India and Southeast Asia caused drop in total production, the mobile phone production saw a slight growth of 7 percent. The total production forecast for the entire year stands at 1.3 billion devices at the moment, which is less than 2021.

The demand for smartphones came down due to the pandemic prevention measures along with inflation, TrendForce reports. The war between Russia and Ukraine has contributed to the rising global inflation. Thus, the numbers have come down in the first half of the year majorly due to the impact of China's lockdown on the economy, the market research firm added. The drop in the second half will be due to the inflation crisis. The complete production forecast for the whole year have come down to 1.33 billion units.

China smartphone market still ranks first in terms of overall sales market share, the TrendForce reports claims. Due to the pandemic, the market share has dropped to 21.1 percent from 24.2 percent this year. The total shipment forecast has also fallen from 325 million units a year ago to 283 million units, indicating an annual decline of approximately 12.9 percent. As mentioned earlier, during the same time period in 2021, when the pandemic in India and Southeast Asia caused drop in total production, the mobile phone production saw a slight growth of 7 percent.

Considering the national shipment share ranking forecast of the current year, the top three positions will be held by China, India, and the United States with a share of 21.1 percent, 13.1 percent, and 11 percent respectively, TrendForce says.