Second-quarter 2023 smartphone shipments by China-based smartphone vendors exhibited a 7.4% on-quarter growth but a 6.1% on-year decline, and volumes will enjoy single-digit growths quarterly in second half of 2023.
Entering 2023, most countries worldwide, especially emerging markets, are still struggling from high inflation and see weakening consumer demand as a result. DIGITIMES Research estimates that global smartphone shipments slipped 13.2% on year to come to only 264 million in the first quarter of 2023 and will witness an on-year decline of 6.4% to reach volumes of 257 million units in the second quarter.
Smartphones shipped to the China market shrank to only 62 million units in the first quarter of 2023, down 12.4% sequentially and 7.2% on year, but the volumes in the second quarter are expected to stay at about the same level as in the first.
First-quarter 2023 global tablet shipments came to only 29.44 million units, declining 17% from the prior quarter and 8% from the prior year as the market entered the traditional slow season; however, with brands' robust short-term orders, the volumes will only drop less than 1% sequentially in the second quarter.
Smartphone shipments by the Chinese brand vendors are expected to slip 13.2% sequentially and 17.1% on year in the first quarter of 2023; however, their shipments are expected to make a recovery in the second quarter, stimulated by robust demand from shopping festivals, with an on-year decline to shrink to less than 10%.
Global smartphone shipments amounted to above 300 million units in the fourth quarter of 2022 and are estimated to go down further to 263 million units, slipping a double-digit percentage sequentially in both quarters.
Smartphone shipments to China increased by over 20% on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2022 thanks to Single's Day promotion campaigns and vendors' preparation for the Lunar New Year holiday demand. However, the volumes will slip by almost 15% sequentially in the first quarter of 2023 as sales begin to plunge after the holidays.
Because of the weak economy and consumer confidence, tablet brands will continue to scale back their shipments in the first quarter of 2023 with overall volumes estimated to decrease by 20% from the prior quarter.
China-based smartphone vendors shipped a total of 150 million smartphones in fourth-quarter 2022, growing 6.6% from a quarter ago but plunging 21.4% from a year ago and the volumes are expected to continue to slide from a year ago in the first quarter of 2023.
Smartphone shipments to the China market amounted to 58.4 million units in the third quarter of 2022, falling 20.5% from a year ago to a new low since third-quarter 2020.
DIGITIMES Research expects smartphone shipments to grow 2-9% a year throughout the period from 2023-2027 with the CAGR for the five years to come to 4.8%.
