The global smartphone market suffered its biggest drop in a decade in 2022, with sales down by 11.3%. At the same time, Samsung and Apple, the first and second brands respectively with the largest market share, cemented their position as sales leaders, stealing space from the big three Chinese brands.

According to the Spanish daily "El Economista", quoted by the newspaper Económico, the decrease in global sales volume was even more marked in the fourth quarter, in the order of 18.3%, in what is considered the most important period of the year in the sector, as it includes the Christmas and Black Friday festivities.

South Korea's Samsung continues to lead the market, with its market share rising to 21.6% in 2022, with 226.4 million smartphones sold worldwide, after holding a share of 20% in 2021. The variation in Apple's sales was similar, with the American company rising 1.5 percentage points (p.p.) to 18.8% last year, corresponding to 226.4 million sales.

In the opposite direction were Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, at 12.7%, 8.6% and 8.2%, respectively, following falls of 2.7, 1.2 and 1.4 p.p., respectively

In addition to these figures, the average time taken by consumers to buy a new device has risen to 40 months.