Smartphone shipments this year will hit a 10-year low, and Apple is expected to overtake Samsung to become the first!

August 18 news, according to the latest global mobile phone shipment forecast report released by market research institute Counterpoint on August 17, 2023 global smartphone shipments will decline by 6% to 1.15 billion units, the lowest record in a decade, mainly by China and the United States, the two main market sales weak drag.

The report pointed out that the main reason behind this is related to China's slow economic recovery and people's consumption tends to be conservative. Karn Chauhan, a senior analyst at Counterpoint, said that smartphone sales in China, which averaged 450 million units per year at its peak, are now only 270 million units per year, becoming a major factor in the sharp decline in global smartphone sales.

In addition, the US smartphone market is also facing the problem of sluggish demand, although the job market is strong and inflation is cooling, but the replacement demand of consumers is delayed, resulting in a longer replacement cycle. "There has been a decoupling of economic trends and demand, with replacement cycles hitting record highs across all mobile phone brands this year," said Jeff Fieldhack, research director for North America at Counterpoint.

It is worth noting that under the trend of poor prosperity, high-end smart phones are relatively unaffected, and market demand is also going to the high-end, which also makes Apple (Apple) become the biggest beneficiary of the high-end route.

Fieldhack said Apple's upcoming release of the new iPhone 15 series in September should give the smartphone market a good look in the fourth quarter of this year. Counterpoint believes that, benefiting from the shipment volume of the iPhone 15 series, Apple is expected to surpass Samsung in 2023 and ascend the throne of the global smartphone market for the first time.