By Li Panpan

The global smartphone market recorded its third consecutive decline in Q3 2022, dropping 9% year-on-year, marking the worst Q3 since 2014. Three Chinese brands are among the top five vendors.

Chinese brands Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo, continued to take a cautious approach to overseas expansion, retaining 14%, 10%, and 9% of global market shares, respectively.

Samsung retained its leading position with a 22% market share. Apple was the only vendor in the top five to record positive growth, improving its market position further with an 18% share.

“The smartphone market is highly reactive to consumer demand, and vendors are adjusting quickly to the harsh business conditions,” said Canalys Analyst Amber Liu.

“For most vendors, the priority is to reduce the risk of inventory building up given deteriorating demand. Vendors had significant stockpiles going into July, but sell-through gradually improved from September owing to aggressive discounting and promotions. The pricing strategy of new products is cautiously crafted, even for Apple, to avoid significant pushback from consumers who now tend to be very sensitive to any price hike,” added Liu.