TechInsights tracked Apple declined -11% YoY and shipped 71.1 million units of smartphones worldwide in Q4 2022. Reduced manufacturing capacity at Foxconn factories amid China’s zero COVID policy (after rapid rise in COVID case there) primarily drove this decline. However, Apple topped the global smartphone market with an impressive 24% share in Q4 2022, the highest fourth quarter smartphone market share ever for the company. Apple’s shipment performance slightly outperformed global smartphone market performance which declined -19% YoY for the quarter.
We believe in order to combat the supply shortage in Q4 2022, Apple extended fiscal quarter to Dec 31, 2022 for this quarter, historically it usually cuts by Dec 25 each year. For 2022 full year, Apple shipped took the second place (after Samsung) with nearly 19% market share. Regionally, Apple iPhone shipments declined in all of the six major regionsin Q4 2022 with Central & Eastern Europe (declining the largest -50% YoY), a consequence of the conflict in Russia-Ukraine. Despite the declining overall numbers in Q4 2022, performance in emerging market was relatively better. We believe India to be next growth engine for Apple considering the volume potential the country has.
Global estimated smartphone wholesale ASP was up +3.5% YoY to reach its highest ever level. The bigger mix of the more expensive iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models and the release of iPhone 14 Plus attributed to the higher ASP.
On a model basis, our Smartphone Model Tracker (SMT) service estimate, iPhone 14 Pro series leads the pack. We have employed SA Lens to evaluate vendors and compare them with their peers. With a total score of 4.3 (out of 5) the SA Vendor Lens evaluates Apple as vendor on the top of its game and a leader in its field compared to the competition.
Exhibit 1 – SA Lens: Apple Vendor Evaluation Q4 2022
