IDC Downgrades 2022 Smartphone Outlook but Expects 2023 Rebound

“Increasing headwinds from many fronts” will doom smartphone shipments to a 3.5% decline this year to 1.31 billion handsets, reported IDC Wednesday. Three straight quarters of decline and increasing supply and demand challenges forced IDC to significantly downgrade its 2022 forecast from the previous projection of 1.6% growth. IDC expects the 2022 decline to be a short-term setback as the market rebounds to achieve a 1.9% five-year compound annual growth rate through 2026, it said. COVID-19 lockdowns in China “hit global demand and supply simultaneously by reducing demand in the largest market globally and tightening the bottleneck to an already challenged supply chain,” said IDC. Apple appears to be the “least impacted” vendor because most customers in the high-priced iPhone segment “are less influenced by macroeconomic issues like inflation,” it said. “Barring any new setbacks, we expect these challenges to ease by the end of this year and the market to recover in 2023 with 5% growth."