IDC recently released the latest research report on the global smartphone market. Compared with PCs and servers, it is more optimistic about the outlook of smartphones next year. IDC emphasized that the worst situation of smart phones may be over, and the market is expected to return to normal in the second half of next year.

Under the economic background of weak global demand and uncertain prospects, the smartphone market is still struggling. The downturn in the market still hit Chinese manufacturers hard, affecting all manufacturers, including Samsung Electronics and Apple in South Korea. However, only Apple experienced positive growth in the third quarter, with iPhone sales up 9.7% year on year, achieving a total sales revenue of $42.626 billion (about 308.8 billion yuan).

In terms of shipments, Samsung ranked first with 64 million units, and Apple ranked second with 51.9 million units. It was followed by 40.5 million Xiaomi, 25.9 million Vivo and 25.8 million OPPO. Apple grew 1.6% over the same period, while Samsung fell 7.8% and Xiaomi fell 8.6%. Vivo and OPPO decreased by more than 20% respectively.

Although Android mobile phone brand manufacturers and the supply chain still hold a cautious wait-and-see view, the smartphone industry is expected to reach the bottom from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of this year due to the fact that the supply chain has slowed down for 1.5 years and the inventory correction has gone through three quarters, plus factors such as the normalization of China's mobile phone inventory, the easing of semiconductor shortage, and the promotion of mobile phone specifications driven by new phones.

Ryan Reith, the project vice president of IDC Global Mobile Device Tracking Company, said that there have been some changes in smartphone sales around the world. For example, developed markets with higher prices and more smartphone sales have performed better than emerging markets, where prices are only a small part of their prices. He continued to explain that a strong recovery in emerging markets is crucial to the growth of global markets.

IDC had predicted that the market would recover next year. Although it is not expected to change, considering the market trend in the third quarter, IDC postponed the period and believed that the recovery would begin in the second half of 2023.