Smartphone sales dip below 100 million units worldwide for the second time in a decade in May 2022

The smartphone market cracked the 100-million mark in terms of global unit sales in about January 2014 and more or less stayed there for the entire rest of the 2010s. However, those consistent wins have been dealt several crushing blows since 2020, with a particularly sharp dip below that classic level recorded for May of that year.  

This nadir was, of course, attributed to pandemic-era slowdown by Counterpoint Research. Then again, smartphone sales reclaimed nearly-normal volumes thereafter throughout 2021, as supply and social-distancing constraints gradually eased.

However, events such as the war in Ukraine, the resumed Shanghai lockdowns and the rise of inflation proceeded to unfold, all of which have culiminated in a dip back down to 96 million units for the smartphone market worldwide in May 2022. According to Counterpoint Research, that figure represents a month-on-month (MoM) decline of 4%, or 10% year-on-year (YoY).

This also makes May 2022 the 11th consecutive month without YoY growth, and the second month without MoM growth running: stats that make things look grim, especially for a smartphone industry practically used to the opposite.

Despite all that, however, there might be some light at the end of the tunnel for consumers: the current backlog of inventory that might imply scope for increasingly aggressive price-slashing in the near future, for example.