Apple hit by iPhone delays as global handset sales sink to eight-year low
Deteriorating economic conditions have driven down global handset sales to their lowest level in eight years, says Counterpoint Research.
It calculates Q3 shipments totaled 301 million units, down 12% from a year ago. Another analyst firm, Omdia (a sister company to Light Reading), put the decline at 7.6%, although it said shipments were up 2.5% sequentially.
Counterpoint senior analyst Harmeet Singh Walia listed out the factors dampening sales: “Russia’s escalating war in Ukraine, ongoing China-US political distrust and tensions, growing inflationary pressures across regions, a growing fear of recession, and weakening national currencies all caused a further dent in consumer sentiment, hitting already weakened demand.”
He said most major vendors continued to experience annual shipment declines, the one exception being Apple, with iPhone sales expected to lift the total smartphone market in Q4 following the iPhone 14 launch.
But that prediction no longer holds following the drama at the world’s biggest iPhone plant, the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, central China.
Employees last week staged a mass breakout, one month into a mandatory COVID-19 lockdown, with social media airing claims of multiple deaths and unsanitary conditions in the dormitories.
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