The new International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker forecast states that the global smartphone shipments will decline by 3.5% this year because of supply and demand issues. Although Apple and Samsung have also reduced their shipments, the iPhone maker will be “least impacted” due to great control over its supply chain and its customers who are not affected by inflation.
Based on the current economic, political, and production challenges, IDC has reduced its shipments of smartphones forecast for 2022 from the previous 1.6% growth projection.
Apple new iPhone 14 series might perform well because of high demand of 5G devices
The report states that increasing headwinds like inflation, weakening demand, Ukraine and Russia war, and other political tensions, supply constraints, and lockdowns in China since March 2022 have adversely impacted the smartphone industry. So much so, that Apple has cut down its orders for this year.
However, the Cupertino tech giant will not be affected like the other OEM vendors because the company manages its supply chain more effectively by ordering parts in advance and its customers fall in the high-priced segment and are less influenced by macroeconomic issues like inflation.
Apple appears to be the least impacted vendor due to greater control over its supply chain and because the majority of its customers in the high-priced segment are less influenced by macroeconomic issues like inflation. Barring any new setbacks, we expect these challenges to ease by the end of this year and the market to recover in 2023 with 5% growth.”
It is also mentioned that it is a short-term setback and the smartphone market will recover with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.9% through 2026.
The semiconductor shortage will improve by the second half of 2022 and 5G enabled devices are estimated to see 25.5% growth in 2022 and make up for 53% of new shipments “with nearly 700 million devices and an average selling price (ASP) of $608.”
That is good news for Apple which is going to launch four more 5G smartphones in the market with the release of the new iPhone 14 series in September.
