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IDC Shaves 3 Points Off Its 2022 Smartphone Shipments Forecast

Record inflation, geopolitical tensions and other macroeconomic challenges that have “significantly dampened” consumer demand will spur a 6.5% decline in 2022 smartphone shipments to 1.27 billion handsets, reported IDC Wednesday. IDC’s latest forecast is a 3-point reduction from previous projections,…

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but IDC expects the setback to be short term, it said. Its outlook is for the market to rebound in 2023 with 5.2% growth year over year and, longer term, to sustain a five-year compound annual growth rate of 1.4%. "The supply constraints pulling down on the market since last year have eased and the industry has shifted to a demand-constrained market,” said IDC. High inventory in channels and low demand with no signs of immediate recovery “has OEMs panicking and cutting their orders drastically for 2022,” it said. The events of the past 12 months “shaved” 150 million handsets off the market for 2022 from its forecast in 2021's Q2, said IDC. Despite the unit decline, average selling prices grew 10% year over year in Q2 and are forecast to grow 6.3% for the full year, it said. The premium segment, defined as smartphones listing for $800 or more, “has proved resilient to the economic turmoil and has grown four percentage points in share to 16% of the total smartphone market and will continue to grow,” it said.