iPhone market share grows despite declining global shipments

Apple Iphone Ipad Availability Beijing Iphone 13 Pro Close Up
Apple Iphone Ipad Availability Beijing Iphone 13 Pro Close Up (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

  • Worldwide smartphone shipments fell 11% in the first quarter of 2022.
  • Apple's market share grew from 15% to 18% year-over-year.
  • Samsung still led global shipments with a 24% market share in the first quarter of 2022.

Apple's success with the iPhone 13 lineup continues.

According to new data from analytics firm Canalys, iPhone market share continued to grow while global smartphone shipments declined 11% in the first quarter of 2022.

Worldwide smartphone shipments fell 11% amid unfavorable economic conditions and sluggish seasonal demand in the first quarter of 2022. Samsung led the market with a 24% share, up from 19% in Q4 2021 as the vendor revamped its 2022 portfolio. Apple came second, with a solid Q1 thanks to the growing demand for its iPhone 13 series. Xiaomi stayed in third place due to the stellar performance of its Redmi Note series. OPPO (including OnePlus) and vivo completed the top five with 10% and 8% shares.

Green Iphone 13 Iphone 13 Pro Iphone Se

Green Iphone 13 Iphone 13 Pro Iphone Se (Image credit: Christine Romero-Chan / iMore)

Canalys Analyst Sanyam Chaurasia said that, despite a decline in global shipments, the success of the iPhone 13 lineup and the new iPhone SE caused Apple to grow its market share from 15% to 18% year over year.

"Despite the looming uncertainty in global markets, the leading vendors accelerated their growth by broadening device portfolios for 2022. While the iPhone 13 series continues to capture consumer demand, the new iPhone SE launched in March is becoming an important mid-range volume driver for Apple. At a similar price point to its predecessor, it offers an upgraded chipset and improved battery performance and adds the 5G connectivity that operator channels are demanding. At the same time, Samsung ramped up production of its popular A series to compete aggressively in the mid-to-low-end segment while refreshing its 2022 portfolio, including its flagship Galaxy S22 series. While Chinese vendors are still suffering supply constraints at the low end, their global expansion is being hampered by a slowdown in their home market."

Apple is expected to release the iPhone 14 lineup in the fall of this year. The new lineup is expected to favor a larger regular iPhone and ditch the iPhone mini which, if true, will have only lasted two years.

Joe Wituschek
Contributor

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.