It’s become a habit now to see Apple soaring into the best-selling smartphone rankings at the end of the year. There’s nothing supernatural about it: it’s just the market’s reaction to the launch of a new iPhone. Of course, 2022 followed the traditional model: Apple’s shares rose as soon as the iPhone 14 was released. And this is despite constant supply issues.
Also, for the last quarter of 2022, Apple gets a 25% market share. It’s a nice performance that allows to get ahead of Samsung, which has a market share of 20%. Other manufacturers are far behind. Xiaomi is third with 11% market share, followed by OPPO (10%) and Vivo (8%).
Apple overtakes Samsung in the last quarter of 2022
Regardless, Samsung unsurprisingly maintained its position as the market leader with a 22% market share for the full year. Apple is a good second with 19% market share, followed by Xiaomi with 13% market share. Given that the supply concerns for the iPhone 14 are over in theory, the Cupertino company should retain its ranking for the start of 2023.
2023 may also be a somewhat special year for the smartphone market. Samsung is already pessimistic about its sales forecasts, and it’s not Canalys analyst Le Xuan Chiew who will contradict it. “Forging strong partnerships with the distribution network will be important to maintain market share due to challenging market conditions. […] can easily lead to difficult negotiations”explains the latter.
