2022 Global Smartphone Shipments Were the Lowest in Nearly a Decade

The smartphone industry capped off another dismal year with a 17% year over year drop for Q4. That number puts the full year's shipping figures 11% below 2021, per new numbers from Canalys, which refer to it as "an extremely challenging year for all vendors." From a report: It's been one thing after another from the industry. Slowing figures pre-dated 2020, while the pandemic and its various knock-on effects have continued tossing up roadblocks. For 2022, the same macroeconomic headwinds that have impacted practically every facet of life took their own toll on the industry. Notably, the figures for the quarter and the year were at their lowest in nearly a decade. The firm tells TechCrunch, "we have to go back to 2013 to find lower numbers -- and back then the market situation was very different as the technology was a lot more emerging." Apple returned to the top spot for Q4, at a quarter of the total market. Samsung held onto No. 2, but still captured the top spot for the entirety of 2022.

Meanwhile apple price hike

[OffTheLip]

iPhone prices are predicted to increase so there is that. It is good to have loyal customers or whatever they are.

No one needs a new phone

[DesScorp]

Unless you have stupid money, or are the kind of person that just has to have the latest iPhone model, everyone has generally been satisfied with their phones for years now. I use my iPhones until they die or are no longer supported because there's really nothing new feature-wise that vendors can offer. If I'm satisfied with photo quality, storage, storage amounts, etc, then why upgrade? I think most people have gotten to this point.

Re:

[quenda]

Yes, the market is saturated and maturing.
Not much analysis in TFA, which by the way is talking unit sales, not dollars.
It is interesting to compare phone sales to desktop sales, which were dropping for many years, boomed with covid, and are now declining again. But surprisingly still higher in unit sales in 2022 than pre-covid.

Re:

[fermion]

Everyone has a phone. The benefits of new phones are marginal. I am on my third or fourth year with my current phone. My family is as well.

It is not really cost. The first iPhone was around $900 in todays money. My old razr was more than that. It is just that the quality and features means we donâ(TM)t need new. It is like when I was a kid people replaced their cars much more often. Now we donâ(TM)t need to.

Re:

[guest reader]

Unless you have stupid money, or are the kind of person that just has to have the latest iPhone model, everyone has generally been satisfied with their phones for years now.

I don't think so. From my experience, it's all about women. She already has several phones, but she really wants a new latest iPhone. Someone in this thread said that the marked is saturated and that everyone has a phone. There is a supply shortage of iPhones in the place where we live. We are on the waiting list. We were told that the waiting time could be more than few months.

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[sarren1901]

Don't worry, as they continue to roll out 5g and kill 4g, you will be forced to upgrade from your perfectly usable phone. This happened to me in San Diego with T mobile. I still bought a new phone (not from them) and then decided to find a better carrier (visible, verizon reseller) and couldn't be happier.

Though honestly, nothing was wrong with my s7 except it didn't have a 5g radio.

So this will be a way to force people to upgrade because their phone will start having more and more connectivity issues but h

customers voting with wallets?

[kiviQr]

Maybe just maybe ... I do not need 7" screen to play 4k video games on my phone that needs to be replaced every 2 years. Other hints: headphones jack, replicable battery, standardized charging socket, less preloaded crap.

Re:

[Opportunist]

Give the man a cigar, he's on the money.

Literally so.

The industry simply does not produce anymore what the customer wants. Why the hell would I want to trade my old phone for an inferior new one?

Re:

[mspohr]

It's not that they are inferior. They just don't offer much more than older models.
Phones have reached a plateau in performance and features that would compel new purchases. Most people are content to keep their old phone longer.
I personally keep my phone until it stops getting updates.

Re:

[DarkOx]

Pretty much this. I could get a new iPhone but why. Faster CPU, better camera - only really 'advances'.

CPU - I don't game on my phone, maybe if you do that matters. Right now I seem to be able to play any media I want, Safari renders sites fast, apps generally launch quickly. I have tried the 'faster phones' they don't feel any faster.

Camera - I guess you can never have to good a camera but it hardly seems like good use of money replacing my current phone which already takes a great picture. If I needed

Re:

[silentphate]

The lack of a headphone jack does indeed make them inferior when compared to phones for the past 12 years. I know many people, myself included, that normally would have upgraded but am holding out because current gen phones just don't have the features we want, like headphone jacks and replaceable batteries, sd card storage, etc.

Re:

[mspohr]

I kind of have to agree with you about headphone jack removal, replaceable batteries and SD card storage.
I guess the new phones are inferior.

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[sound+vision]

I got a Samsung Galaxy A01 for my last job. It has a headphone jack and an SD slot. Great OLED screen, decent camera, does everything I ask of it without hesitation. Non-removable battery, though.

But for $15 refurbished ($30 if you include the required one-time prepaid service purchase), I can excuse the non-removable battery. It's totally functional until that dies.

The visible crapware on it is minimal, just some "Samsung Free" streaming BS. It only shows if I accidentally swipe left on the home screen.

Re:

[fahrbot-bot]

I personally keep my phone until it stops getting updates.

Same so far.

I got my current Pixel 5a in Sept 2021 on Ting/T-Mobile. I use their Flex plan and pay $17.23/month -- I've never used more than 120MB cell data in a month... I like the phone and service -- both Ting and T-Mobile.

My previous phone was a Kyocera HydroVIBE that I got in July 2015 on Ting/Sprint for about $155 on sale. I was pretty happy with that one, but it (a) was running Android 4.4 and couldn't be updated, (b) finally stopped getting any updates from Google Play, and (c) most important

Re: customers voting with wallets?

[peragrin]

I tend to break something every 3 years or so. Last phone last 2 years and then the sim cardslot broke. How why? No idea. But it wouldn't take a sim card anymore.

Got a free warranty replacement of the same model. Will keep it until it breaks. Usually battery or screens die and it no longer becomes cost effective to repair rather than replace.

Re:

[The-Ixian]

I think the next big selling point is going to be form factor.

When I can buy a folding phone that expands to the size of my current phone, that is going to be a reason for me to buy a new phone.

Until then, my phone does everything I need it to, it's just huge and I hate lugging it around.

And nothing of value was lost

[Kokuyo]

The silicon has been good enouth for years, most of us can't tell the difference in camera quality in any device starting at 400 bucks in a blind test and software keeps getting new features but work flows are by no means stable.

Getting a new phone usually means a lot of work to mostly get it where you want it and then getting used to the rest for little tangible benefit... other than lightening your wallet, of course.

So add to that less disposable income and more insecurities about the future...

Re:And nothing of value was lost

[Opportunist]

Actually, yes, a lot of value was lost. In every new phone generation, something of value is lost. Battery life. Headphone jack. Ease of use. Privacy.

Yes, my old Nokia 7110 couldn't play games and didn't connect me to Facebook. But it could run on a charge for about 2 weeks, it did have a headphone jack and it didn't tell everyone around the world when I'm on the can.

Re:

[drinkypoo]

Actually, yes, a lot of value was lost. In every new phone generation, something of value is lost. Battery life. Headphone jack. Ease of use. Privacy.

My Moto G Power has better battery life, a headphone jack which was missing from my Motorola RAZR flip phones, is much easier to use, and offers no less privacy as every cellphone is a little snitch. I do miss the days of replaceable batteries in cheap phones, but everything else is better or just as good except the size, and I can live with it to get the big display.

Re:

[romiz]

With its 900 mA.h battery, a Nokia 7110 can stay 260 hours in standby according to the manufacturer's specifications. But it can only last 4h30 in voice calls. If we were using those old devices with the same intensity we use the modern ones, even the old ones would be depleted after two days.

Re:

[Opportunist]

I'd like to see a modern phone do a 4 hour voice call without either draining the battery twice over or dying the heat death.

Maybe the sheeple are turning

[poptopdrop]

Maybe the sheeple who actually buy the ever-larger phablets are starting to realise that they are too big and too fragile and not actually what they need.

Maybe some clever manufacturers will make smaller, thicker, more robust phones with bigger batteries, which are what people need.

Re:

[Gibgezr]

Nah, we love our big phones. Big screens are very nice for most people. We just don't really need to keep replacing our phones every 2 years, because there's no really important upgrade to the features that people care about. It's not like phones "wear out".

Re:

[Opportunist]

Produce a phone with a headphone jack, a simple user interface that lets me at least pick up calls without looking at the damn thing (gimme a keyboard or just a numpad, but fuck off with those display buttons), has a battery life of more than half a day (and a battery that can be replaced AND handles more than about 100 charge cycles), that isn't pre-loaded with all kinds of crapware you can't even remove because everyone and their dog wants to track every single move you make, and you'll see me buy one.

But

Re:

[mspohr]

Was waiting in line a the post office yesterday. The woman in front of me wanted to make a call but she couldn't find the "phone" feature of her phone.

Re:

[fred6666]

What's the problem? I never used mine and would like to hide/uninstall the phone application if I could.

Re:

[mspohr]

Well, some people (like us old people) still make phone calls.

Re:

[KlomDark]

Nah, I have big hands. Phablets fit just right, the others are just little toy things.

Still using my Galaxy S9+ until Samsung gets it through their head that I want the headphone jack back before I buy their new flagships. And a replacable battery.

Re:

[aRTeeNLCH]

Well, you got the S9+ which tells them you'll buy a phone without replaceable battery.

Re:

[KlomDark]

Very true, dammit :(

Re:

[aRTeeNLCH]

I recently got an S22, my first phone without headset jack. So yeah, eventually, I got to be with the sheeple myself. I've never been happier with a phone though. I love Dex (well, connecting to a display), waterproof, camera, fluidity, etcetera. I miss the 3.5mm jack but manage without it (got some adapters, none came with the phone, not even a charger, only a cable), likewise the non (easily) replaceable battery and the lack of memory card slot. An IR transmitter would have been nice. And perhaps FM and d

Re:

[KlomDark]

Yeah, I'll probably get stuck with something like that in the future. Looking at the Moto line, they still have headphone jacks. (But no wireless charging, which I've gotten very used to. :( )

I think FM radios are perma-gone, they can't track what songs you're listening to. :( I recently fired up an ancient Android 4.1 phone to use to just play MP3s on and was surprised it had an FM radio built in, I had completely forgotten phones used to come with them! :)

Is Dex better (other than faster) on the S22? I u

Re:

[aRTeeNLCH]

FM radio is going the way of the Dodo here in Europe, in favour of DAB+, and indeed, no way to track what you're listening to... I recall the first couple of iPhones having a WiFi Bluetooth FM combo (perhaps even with GPS) but no way to use the FM, which was the moment I got insight into Apple...

I didn't have a Samsung since my Siii (and my wife's S5) so no previous Dex experience, I just got 4k@60Hz out of my S22 after following XDA developers info (needs some plugin, not too easy without play Store acco

Re:

[skam240]

No thank you on smaller phones. More modern larger phones still fit fine in my pocket meanwhile I find the larger screens so much easier and more pleasant to use.

Wouldnt mind the bigger batteries though!

Hi Prices - No More Innovation

[BrendaEM]

They don't make anything but candy-bar cellphones. The processors are plenty fast for the task. There's no point in buying something with a camera with more pixels because the lenses are tiny. I still can't type on mine without a physical keyboard. The cellphone glut was landfill filling madness, anyway.

Good!

[Petersko]

I know I'm going to sound like the apocryphal Bill Gates talking about 640kb, but except maybe for gaming horsepower, is there anything left? I've managed to skip at least a generation each upgrade, and even then the last one only happened because my mother cracked hers, and she inherits my trickle-down gear. I could have gone 2 more years at least. I suspect a lot of "upgrades" happen because of batteries or damage, not because of feature gaps.

Attention all manufacturers

[sjames]

Be very quiet for a moment. Stop with your shouty ads and listen...

Hear that? No no, no ads, just listen...

Now can you hear it?....That's the market speaking...

How often does one buy a phone?

[rlwinm]

I've had my current Android phone for about 5 years. The battery is getting a bit weak and if it weren't for Apple pushing the industry to non-replaceable batteries I would just swap it out. But so far it is still working well enough I see no reason to buy another phone. I usually keep cars for about 10-15 years and phones for 7 years. I know most of my friends do something similar.

This actually shows just how ubiquitous smartphones have become. Almost everyone has one. There is very little "new ground"

Can't imagine why

[whitroth]

Let's see:
1.saturate the entire market.
2. Offer more "features" that no one asked for, when they can't use the ones they have.
3. Planned obsolescence (so users buy ones that don't fail as quickly).
4. Execs and large shareholders can't understand this.

Because current smartphones are good enough

[roc97007]

We'd have to reach the level end of the curve eventually.

There needs to be some kind of new purpose, a new killer app, to warrant a substantial (expensive) update. Vendors struggle to find some new thing to waste resources on. Every technology reaches this point eventually.

I personally like the idea of a folding phone, and I'm very grateful to the early adopters who are beta-testing that technology so I don't have to.

A decent economy would help too.

The answer is obvious

[smooth wombat]

People are getting sick of the endless harassment from smart phones and are moving to flip phones [slashdot.org].

folding phones

[p51d007]

Well, there is only so much you can do with a candybar phone. Fancy colors, brighter displays, faster refresh, more megapixels, faster processors. 99.9% of users NEVER come close to maxing out what a smartphone can do. So...let's reinvent the phone with the silly folding phone, charge 1500-2000 dollars or more. The sheep will run to the stores.

I already have one

[odinjurkowski]

The only need for new phones is 1) children getting their first phone (which is also offset by older generations dying), and 2) they get dropped, broken, and physically damaged to need replacement. Otherwise, what we have now is good enough. They work, so why get a new one? Why would anyone be surprised?

Don't need them

[wakeboarder]

Smartphones are going the way of the PC, there's only so much innovation you can do before people don't want to adopt a new phone and pay money every two years. And we don't need to it's ruining the environment and it's wasteful. We don't need cell phone manufacturers to cram cell phones down our throats. What we need is them to extend the lifetime of phones and stop Mass producing them as much

So what?

[MonkeyProgrammer]

What were shipments like in 2020 and 2021.

Massively higher, right?

And, if you average them all out, things are just normal, right?

No, that can't be it. It must be this phantom menace lurking out there (a.k.a. the upcoming recession that the ruling class has created in order to drive the peasants wages back down again).