2022's best-selling smartphone brands

According to the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, South Korean tech giant Samsung will continue to be the world’s top-selling smartphone brand in 2022.

In 2022, the smartphone industry had a significant 11.3% drop in sales, with 1.21 billion handsets delivered – the lowest level since 2013.

However, the industry’s two biggest players, Samsung and Apple, outperformed other major smartphone makers.

In 2022, Samsung delivered 260.9 million smartphones, a 4.1% decline from the 272.1 million handsets supplied in 2021. Its market share, however, climbed from 20% to 21.6%.

Runner-up Apple has progressively eroded Samsung’s advantage in recent years, but has failed to make a more serious impact this year.

The top US smartphone brand delivered 226.5 million units in 2018, compared to 235.8 million in 2021, a 4% reduction.

Despite a somewhat lesser decrease than Samsung, Apple’s 2022 market share of 18.8% was 2.8 percentage points lower than Samsung’s, compared to 2.7 percentage points lower in 2021. As a result, Samsung’s market share lead has grown marginally.

Apple’s iPhone 14 series sales were severely damaged by significant interruptions at the Foxconn plant in China, which manufactures the majority of the company’s devices.

Whereas the fourth quarter of the year is generally a significant lift for Apple due to holiday purchasing tendencies, the company delivered 14.9% fewer handsets during the same period last year.

However, the top Chinese smartphone makers were affected far more severely than Samsung and Apple.

Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo all saw their shipments fall by over 30 million units, resulting in year-over-year sales declines of 19.8%, 22.7%, and 22.8%, respectively.

The good news for customers in 2023 is that the IDC anticipates generous trade-in offers and sales incentives as the market seeks innovative methods to drive upgrades and sell more devices, particularly for flagship models.

The chart below summarises and compares the five top-selling smartphone brands in 2022 from 2021 performance.