The global smartphone industry has been in a slump for the past two years, owing primarily to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year’s Q3 drop marks the largest-ever third quarter decline and the fifth consecutive quarter of decline in the smartphone shipments worldwide. Companies continue to struggle in the face of weak global demand and economic uncertainty. Now according to the latest report by TrendForce, the global smartphone production declined a notable 11% YoY to around 289 million units in Q3 2022. When compared to the previous quarter, it is showing a slight QoQ drop of 0.9%.
Let’s take a look at the top five global smartphone brands by production in Q3 2022.
- The global leader Samsung’s smartphone production declined 3.9% QoQ, to approximately 64.2 million in Q3 2022. This quarterly decline in device production is expected to continue in the fourth quarter as well.
- Apple reported producing approximately 50.8 million iPhones during Q3 2022, indicating a stable growth pattern. The third quarter has traditionally been the production ramp-up period for Apple as the company intends to push the sales of its new iPhone series to their peak in the fourth quarter. The iPhone 14 Pro model has been in great demand ever since it got launched in September.
- Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo ranked third, fourth, and fifth on the list of top global smartphone brands by production in Q3 2022, respectively.
- Among them, only Xiaomi maintained roughly the same device production volume in Q3 compared with the previous quarter, whereas the other two recorded a QoQ drop. Due to the pressure to reduce the excess inventory, none of them were able to increase smartphone production during the second half of this year.
Reasons behind low smartphone production
The contraction of smartphone production during the year’s peak season was primarily due to brands’ decisions to prioritise the consumption of channel inventory in Q3 2022. The lack of smartphone demand, supply chain and component shortages, rising costs, inflation, and the impending recession, are other factors contributing to the low production of smartphones across the world.
The COVID-19 outbreak in China also has a significant impact on device production. As a result, Apple, Samsung and other smartphone OEMs have begun manufacturing their devices in India.
